


The Thief and Queen

by Riot_Writes



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Aria is a sub, Character Development, Each chapter kills me a little inside, Explicit Sex, F/F, F/M, Light Dom/sub, Lots of story with a little sex, Mass Effect Invasion Comic, Not canon but I like to think its pretty close, OC, Omega DLC, Original Character(s), Plot, Sexual Content, Smut, So be ready to maybe cry, Strong Female Characters, Strong Language, Theres a lot of plot in this, WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK FOR, You Have Been Warned, but its also just as thrilling, hahahahah, hopefully femshep and male shep have same dialogue during the Omega DLC, i know i am, i think, lemme just chug some vodka from the bottle whilst crying, sex with story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2019-05-07 04:21:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 79,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14663190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riot_Writes/pseuds/Riot_Writes
Summary: Thriving on the streets is difficult if you're a homeless human. A small dark skinned human by the name of Brill has a tough time surviving the streets of the station she was born and raised on.  In an attempt to survive she steals from Aria T'loak herself and sells her wares to the notorious Blood Pack.  However, nothing ever goes right in Omega and Brill is forced to continue stealing from Aria T'loak by the Blood Pack. That is, until the day she gets caught. Now, in order to survive, Brill is offered an alternative to the life of constant thievery; only to find her way back to that very profession, as the Thief of Omega.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story started as a concept idea by tsonishepard about dominate characters beings submissive in bed, I wrote a oneshot, and things kind of escalated from there.

Prologue

The dark was always a safe place. She lived her entire life in the dark, it sheltered her, and kept her safe for so long. It was only a matter of time before she got caught. Although, living an entire life to the shadows and thieving... maybe she just wanted to get caught. It was about time anyways.

Brill looked up at the barrel of the gun pointed at her, the batarian holding it didn’t waver at her defiant expression. She couldn’t only look so tough, with her buzzed hair and small stature she always looked so young, which got her out of trouble a lot when someone cornered her. This time she wasn’t cornered, she was just being sloppy, which lead to this. Probably her last moment alive. It was her last few moments alive, there was no doubt about that. Being caught by Aria’s men meant death. There was no running away from this. There was no way she could get away with being a thief her entire life. Right?

A crash made the batarian jump and turn his head around to look behind him. Seeing her chance, Brill leapt, crashing into the batarian as she wrapped her arms around his waist and brought him to his back on the floor. Having knocked the wind out of him, Brill swatted the gun out of his hand and quickly stood up, kicking her foot into his gut as she started to run. She left the batarian where he was on the ground as she fled the scene, not even looking back to see if he had picked his gun back up. Whether or not she could get shot wasn’t important, running was the only thing on her mind.

What was that before about being caught? She wanted to be found right? Finally wanted to escape the dark shadows, get out of the shit hole that was Omega. The only way to leave it was to get killed... right?

Brill kept running until she entered the market, crashing into a vorcha that screeched and pushed her to the ground. The push was all the vorcha needed, leaving her alone as she lay on the cold steel ground of the station. She looked like a teenaged human, so most people only shoved her rather than beat her up. She wasn’t a teenager though, she was 25 her young looks and dark skin was what really kept her alive in Omega. If she had white skin, she’d glow in the darkness no matter the lack of light in the area. The short buzzed hair stayed out of the way and made her look so young. Her looks and smarts was what made her survive on this shit station. Why did she keep going like this though?

Brill finally looked up from where she lay on the cold ground, glancing around at the people as they walked by. They didn’t pay her any mind, they never paid anyone any mind. Brill could be a dead body and no one would pay her a second thought. That’s how it was in Omega. Brill slowly got to her feet, dusting off her ragged clothes. They barely fit her, but it was all she could afford, thankfully her breasts were small enough that she didn’t have to worry about getting something to keep them in place, yet still large enough for people to know she was a girl.

No bruises, but her whole body felt sore from the ordeal of being tossed around by the batarian from before. Brill rolled her shoulders back and made her way through the market, stuffing her hands into her pockets as she shouldered past the taller people. A few sore muscles was nothing compared to what had been in store for her. By some great miracle, she made it out of there alive. Most people never got away with screwing with Aria T’loak’s cache, in fact, no one got away with it, so far Brill has been the only one. Though Brill was lucky to get in and out of the cache without being noticed, she had easily stolen six crates of Eezo and had yet to be caught. Maybe she was just lucky.

Regardless of the bad luck today, the Blood Pack still wanted the goods and if Brill wanted to eat at all this week, she needed to try and steal a crate again. Thieving was her only skill and so it was the only way she could earn money. Steal from the Queen of Omega. It was one time, nothing could go wrong the next time she tried for the crate. Right?


	2. Chapter 2

Brill rubbed her brow, running her hand over her shaven head, her other hand resting between her thighs as she sat. She lowered her arm and glanced between her legs at the small box she sat on. It wasn’t a big box, but it would still be worth some credits with the Blood Pack, hopefully. Retrieving the package this time went smoothly, no guards catching her as she entered and left with the stolen material. She was just lucky this time. unlike most thieves, she used the back door to enter the warehouse. using the empty maintenance tunnels and shafts to enter the warehouse. As far as Brill could tell, no one else knew about these secret pathways. Brill herself would have never found it if a certain vorcha hadn’t pushed her, she had fallen into the access hatch just by chance.

The maintenance walkways were expansive, spreading all across Omega as far as Brill could tell. She didn’t take a chance at exploring the rest of the paths, the only one that mattered led her to the secret caches of Eezo that belonged to the Queen herself. If she tried to map out the rest of the tunnels, there was always a chance she could run into one of Aria’s men or Aria herself.

Brill finally stood, turning around as she grabbed the package and heaved it up. She made her way through the tunnel, heading for the meeting to make the exchange with the Blood pack.

“I’d put that back if I were you.”

Brill dropped the box. “FUCK!” She spun around, scanning the darkness of the poorly lit tunnels to find the source of the voice. “Who’s there?” Put this down as another reason why she needed a gun.

A hooded figure stepped into the light, Brill glared at the figure, her stance ready for a fight. Although, what the hell could she do without a gun? Glare, that was about it. From the sound of the stranger’s voice, it sounded like a turian. The stranger took a step towards Brill, removing their hood as they approached. It was indeed a turian, and the fact that it was a female turian made Brill take a step back. “My name is Nyreen.”

Brill busted into laughter, clutching her sides as Nyreen stood there, rather confused to Brill’s spontaneous laughter. Brill’s laughter quickly subsided so she could look at Nyreen once more. “You can’t be serious. You’re the Nyreen? As in Nyreen Kandros?”

“So you know of me.”

Brill rolled her eyes. “Who doesn’t. you lead the Talon mercenaries. The Blood Pack hates you.” she said. As a thief, she not only stole, she also overheard various snippets of otherwise secret information.

“So you work for the Blood pack then. If you know my name, perhaps I can find out yours.”

Brill relaxed, although nyreen had scared the crap out of her, the turan was being friendly. She didn’t see many friendly attitudes when it came to being caught stealing. “Brill.” she answered.

“Brill.” Nyreen repeated, the name was light in her voice, as if she was testing it out. Brill watched her curiously, still ready for anything. “I have a proposition for you.”

“A proposition?” Very curious.

“You know I lead the Talons. How would you like to work for me, instead of the Blood Pack?” Brill took a step back, shocked at Nyreen’s sudden proposition, she was just got stealing who the hell offered a thief a job? “I assume the Blood Pack doesn’t always pay you properly for your work. If you work for me, you won’t necessarily be stealing and I’ll provide you food and a place to live no matter what. Right now, that shipment of goods is late. I’m assuming they wanted it yesterday, do you think they’ll still pay you for a late shipment?”

Brill’s eyes widened. Was this turian psychic or something? “How did you know they wanted this yesterday?” She pointed at the crate to emphasis what she was talking about.

“Who do you think saved you yesterday?”

“That was you?” Brill exclaimed, of course. The guard would have killed her yesterday if it wasn’t for the sudden noise that drew his attention away long enough for Brill to escape. She glanced back at the crate, biting her lip. Nyreen was right, the chances of her getting paid well even at all was very slim. “No, they probably won’t pay me at all.”

“Join my mercenaries and I swear to you, no matter the work, you’ll still have food. I suspect you haven’t eaten in a while.”

As if on queue, Brill’s stomach growled. It was true she hadn’t eaten in a couple days, though she knew she could go a bit longer. Brill rubbed her stomach and looked at Nyreen. “No.” She answered sternly. “I don’t care. I may be a thief, but I have standards. I may not look like someone with standards, but I do and I swore to myself I wouldn’t kill anyone. I’m not going to be a mercenary.” Brill stepped back, shaking her head to clear her mind of thoughts of food.

“You can keep your standards, you won’t be put in a position where you would take someone’s life. I wouldn’t be needing your skills to kill someone.” Nyreen explained, she pointed at the crate between them. “I certainly won’t have you steal from Aria T’loak.”

Brill glanced down at the crate by her feet. She had been lucky to find this passageway. Maybe it was luck now. If she took the package to the Blood Pack late, there was a possibility she wouldn’t get paid, much less eat did she want to take that chance? Working for them was already risky, stealing from Aria constantly put the threat of death in Brill’s life. Even as a thief, things needed to be better, she needed to make a change and sleep in a real damn bed. Brill glanced back up at Nyreen beneath the hood of her eyes. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch.”

There was no going back now. If someone handed you a better future, she couldn’t just say no. “Fine, I’ll join your band of mercenaries.” Brill gave in, looking down at the crate briefly. “Want me to return this?”

Nyreen shook her head. “Leave it. Aria frequents these tunnels, she’ll find it herself eventually.”

Brill instantly flinched, glancing around the tunnels. “Aria knows about these tunnels?” she asked, a hint of dread in her voice.

“Of course, its her station after all, she knows every tunnel and pathway.” Nyreen explained. “Now lets go.”

Brill grimaced, she’ll have to remember that. She stepped over the crate as she approached Nyreen. “Where to, boss?”

Nyreen shook her head, turning as she headed down a pathway. “Call me Kandros, and we’re headed to your new home.”

“New home.” Brill repeated, feeling how that sounded. “Right, I still feel like you’re kidnapping me.”

“I’m not kidnapping you, you can leave the Talons whenever you feel like it. Also, I think you need to be a bit younger than you are for this to be classified as ‘kidnapping’.” Nyreen replied.

Brill’s eyebrow raised curiously. “What makes you think I’m not young enough?”

“I think you’re a lot older than you look and make people believe. You have that look that you’ve survived on Omega a lot longer than you put on.” Nyreen answered coyly. 

Brill folded her arms across her chest. “Alright Kandros, I admit, you’re smarter than you look. I’m 25, I’ll give you that.” She said as they walked. “Get bothered less if I look younger.”

“You’re smart to hide your age and appear younger. How did you find these tunnels?”

“Luck.” Brill answered simply, the look from Nyreen made her shrug in response. “What? I’m serious. A vorcha pushed me and I happened to roll and fall into the access hatch.”

“You are lucky.”

Brill nodded, tucking her hands into her pockets. “I found my way into the cache and that was it. Never explored the rest of these tunnels. I grabbed a crate of eezo and went around seeing which mercenary band would buy. The Blood Pack was the only one that would buy, considering the fact that it was stolen from Aria T’loak. I asked for 500 credits, fairly reasonable price for stolen goods or at least I thought it was reasonable. They took the eezo from me rather forcefully and gave me 100 credits. After that, they demanded a crate of eezo every week on a set day and time. If I didn’t get it to them in time, they’d either pay me less or beat the crap out of me and pay me nothing.” Suffice it to say, surviving on Omega while being forced to work for the Blood Pack was hard.

“The Blood Pack isn’t very forgiving. The fact that they take stolen goods from Aria is a sign that working for them isn’t pleasant.” Nyreen said, her voice almost sounded sympathetic for Brill’s plight.

“I wish I had known that at the start. I would have never gotten into this mess or almost get killed yesterday if I had known.” Brill hesitated, glancing at Nyreen briefly. “I suppose I should thank you for saving my ass yesterday.”

“Lets just say you owe me now.”

Brill bit her lip, she hated being in debt to someone, but Nyreen was right once again. Brill owed Nyreen her life, working as a Talon mercenary to repay that debt was good enough deal. “Terrific.”

They arrived at a ladder that Nyreen quickly ascended, exiting the maintenance tunnels. Brill obediently followed closely behind the turian, exiting the tunnel into a long walkway. Brill closed the access hatch behind them and turned to watch Nyreen continue down the walkway. There was a very thin path along the length of the walkway, two separate paths with a large gap between the paths. Brill stood on the edge of the narrow path and glanced down. She wasn’t good at measuring distance, but it was obvious that anyone would die if they fell off the walkway. An occasional skycar wizzed past as Brill looked blow.

“Is this where you kill me?” Brill asked, glancing up at Nyreen as the vertigo began to make her dizzy.

“Keep moving Brill.”

Brill stepped away from the edge and hurried to catch up with Nyreen. The entire station sounded like a constant machine, no matter where you were you could hear the whirl of the eezo production. If you weren’t use to the constant sound of machinery and the bustle of people, there was no way you could live on Omega, much less sleep. Brill was use to it, like others who grew up on Omega, the hustle and bustle of the station was soothing. The sound of the station relaxed Brill enough to distract her from the deadly fall below until they arrived at a large metal door. Nyreen banged on the door, a turian on the other side, opening it and stepping aside to let them both enter.

“Enjoy your stoll, Kandros?” the turian asked, sealing the door behind them as soon as they entered.

“Very. I have a new recruit, Torin, get her situated somewhere. Should be able to find some extra human clothes somewhere that she can wear.” Nyreen said, gesturing to Brill beside her. Brill stood rigid as Torin did a quick look over of her, now she was doubting her decision to join.

“You got it.” the turian, Torin, nodded, looking back at Nyreen. “This way. Follow me.” He turned and began to walk off.

Brill jumped, hurrying to follow Torin, she slowed briefly, glancing behind her at Nyreen. Nyreen stayed where she was, not following Brill. She glanced up, noticing Brill’s hesitation. “I’ll see you later.” Nyreen reassured her. Brill still felt hesitant, but returned her attention to following Torin.

The place was big, bigger than Brill thought it would be. The Talons were a small group, barely even worth Aria T’loak’s attention anymore. At least, Brill thought they were small, apparently she was wrong. It resembled a large warehouse, no doubt it use to be before the Talons took it as their base of operations. The metal door Brill had entered through opened into a large room, a large center room contained many large screens and interfaces, the communication hub. The walls about the center had four levels of living, the halls visible from the hub. Several mercenaries stood in front of the lines of doors that were the living spaces, a railing separated the halls from a potential death in the center room.

As Brill followed Torin, she couldn’t help but stare in awe at the vastness of the headquarters. many of the people above noticed her gawking and stared back at her, whispering amongst each other. She was a new face, a new recruit, which probably didn’t happen often. No doubt a lot of rumors will spread about her, considering how young Brill looked, it would certainly take some effort to get respect; it wasn’t something she was use to.

Brill looked back to Torin as he lead her through a door into what was obviously the armory. Brill closed the door and glanced around the armory. There were shelves of foot lockers along the walls of the small room and racks of assault rifles in the center. Brill stood by the door as Torin knelt beside a footlocker and began to rummage through its contents.

“New recruit, Torin?” Brill jumped to the side, her head snapping to the corner right beside the door to see a turian standing there.

“Yeah, Kandros brought this one in.” Torin answered, still searching through the foot locker.

The turian guard crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side as he observed Brill. “Little jumpy.”

Brill glared at the turian, trying to assert her dominance despite how short she was. “You’re the one being a creepy fucker, hiding in the shadows.” Brill replied defensively.

The turian chuckled, stepping out of his corner. He resembled Torin, very slighty, his plates had a dark complexion, allowing him to blend in with his dark corner. His voice was deep yet haggard, obviously from the large chunk of his left mandible and neck plates that were missing. Obviously a ravenous varren had bit down on the turian’s neck and ripped off what it could. It was an old wound, the fragile skin having healed but the plates that once were, were no longer there. Despite how ravaged the turian’s neck looked, his eyes had a vibrant gold, as if he was laughing about it. Realizing the severity of the turian’s wounds, Brill’s face drew back in a grimace.

The turian couldn’t help but chuckle once more at Brill’s expression. His talon scratched lightly at his remaining mandible. “Trust me, looks a lot worse than it was.” he said, offering his talon out to Brill. “Name’s Amvius.”

Brill took hold of his offered talon and shook. “Brill.”

They released their shake, Amvius smirked ta Brill or as far as she could tell, he was smirking. “I suppose welcomes are in order. Don’t get many humans in our ranks.”

Brill glanced between Torin and Amvius. “I can tell.” She hesitated. “Not... not that its a bad thing. My species is stuck up.” she replied quickly.

“Compared to turians that have sticks up their butts?” Amvius asked.

Brill kept herself from laughing, instead looking back at Amvius calmly. “No, humans just have a varietal of other things shoved up their asses.”

Amvius, unfortunately, could not hold his laughter, looking at Torin. “I like this one!” he announced, Torin rolling his eyes as he stood, a bundle of clothes in one hand and boots in the other.

Brill snapped her attention back to Torin as he handed her the bundle of clothes. “This’ll probably fit you. As well as these.” He deposited the pair of boots in Brill’s arms.

“And if they don’t?”

“You’ll grow into them.” Torin replied.

Brill glanced down at herself before she looked back up at Torin, he was at least a head taller than her; both the turians were. “You really think I’m going to grow more?”

The turians glanced at each other, Amvius shrugging before Torin looked back at Brill. “Hope to Spirits that they fit.” Torin finally replied. “Alright, lets continue. I’ll talk to you later brother.” Torin nodded at Amvius, motioning for Brill to exit.

Brill shuffled out the door with her new clothes and shoes in her arms, glancing quickly behind her to catch Amvius wave at her just as the door closed shut. At least that's one possible friend in this new place. Torin took her across the floor to an elevator, the trip up was short and silent and they exited as soon as the doors opened. Torin continued on down the hall leaving Brill behind as she slowed and glanced over the railing to the center room below. They were on the highest floor in the warehouse, it felt daunting and weird to be so high above everyone else. Could take some getting use to the vertigo.

“Keep up!” Brill spun towards Torin and hurried down the hall to the door that Torin waited beside. “This is your room. Its where you’ll be staying while you’re with us.” Torin opened the door, and Brill glanced inside. It was small with a bed, sink and a small door on the far side that probably held a toilet. The room could barely fit the bed and the sink that sat right at the foot of the bed. A mirror hung on the wall opposite the bed as well. Barely any floor space, but the sight of a real bed nearly brought tears to Brill’s eyes. Brill slowly stepped into the room, clutching her bundle of clothes tightly to stop herself from crying.

“There’s drawers under the bed for any more clothes, and whatever else you have.” Torin said, Brill kept her back to him as she spoke. “If you have more stuff you can come and go as often as you need. You can familiarize yourself with the place, just don’t break anything.” Brill nodded but continued to keep her eyes on the room. “I’ll leave you to it.” Torin left, the door closing behind him.

As soon as the door closed, Brill let her back fall onto the bed. The cloud like cushions caught her and she stared up at the ceiling. This was it.

This was a new beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Riot's Note:** When you get yourself down on a seat with a really nice pen and you really make yourself do it, you find that you can't stop writing. So much planned I'm so excited for writing more of Brill. Hope you guys enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning?:** This chapter contains explicit scenes of sex.

Months.

 

“Again.”

 

It had been months since Brill had first joined the Talons, and, considering her how her life was prior, things had been good. Although it had only been two months and things were going well, there was one thing Bill just couldn’t do quite yet.

 

There was a loud pop followed by a smack that sounded similar to someone belly flopping on water, and it made Amvius wince. “Mother FUCKER!” Brill’s curse echoed throughout the small room, her reaction made Amvius chuckle and shake his head.

 

The room was small, with a large sparring matt that took up the center of the room. Normally, the space was used for sparring matches, a way to relieve stress and settle disputes between two people, but for now it was fairly unoccupied for was biotics, specifically Brill’s biotics. It wasn’t going well.

 

“You’re supposed to stop before you hit the wall.” Amvius said rather calmly.

 

“I know!” Brill screamed back, she paced around the room next to the wall she had just slammed into. Her face and arms had turned a bright red from the sting, despite her dark complexion. It almost matched the dark red vest she wore, it was the only thing she wore to resemble that she was a Talon.

 

In two months, Brill’s hair had grown back to a small crop on her head. She didn’t bother shaving her head since she arrived, it wasn’t necessary anymore, and she didn’t mind the hair too much. She had been lucky that the clothes she got from Torin her first day actually fit. Since her old rags, Brill had changed her clothing to a pair of black cargo pants, a brown tank and a red vest with the Talon T on the back of her vest. Since the T and the vest itself were both red, the symbol was hardly noticeable, as well as small. With her new clothing, Brill no longer looked so young and actually looked like a woman. She didn’t mind the changes, actually enjoying the chance to dress normally without worrying that someone would jump her. The other Talons seemed to enjoy her company, most of them being turians, but joining them in their customs and traditions was actually very easy for Brill. The fact that Brill joined in on the sparring matches and drinking games made her easily likable in the majorly turian merc group.

 

A few days after Brill had arrived, Kandros had discovered Brill’s natural abilities with biotics. Brill had learned how to control her biotics on her own, preventing objects from flying across the room whenever she sneezed and slowing her fall. Upon finding out about Brill’s untrained biotic potential, Kandros had taken it upon herself to train Brill. Granted, even with the implant, Brill had a stronger connection with her biotics than most humans thanks to her life on Omega and the high exposure to eezo. Despite how naturally attuned she was, learning how to biotic jump was becoming a painful endeavor.

 

Brill shook off the pain and frustration and marched her way back to stand beside Amvius. She turned to face the wall once more, taking a deep breath.

 

“Visualize it.” Amvius said.

 

Brill looked at the turian over her shoulder, glaring at him. “I can see the fucking wall.” She looked back, readying herself for another jump. The biotics made her ears pop as she felt it pull her forward and she dived. Only to be smacked into the wall once more.

 

Amvius sighed and shook his head. At this point Brill was too frustrated to focus. “How is she doing?” Amvius turned, watching Nyreen approach until she stood beside him.

 

“Not well.” Amvius answered, and to back up his statement, Brill screamed out a string of curses. “She got down the pull, but the jump is kicking her ass.” He explained.

 

“Well.” Nyreen watched Brill pace and shake herself of the pain. “I’ll take it from here.” Amvius nodded, taking one last glance at Brill before departing. “Brill.”

 

Brill ceased her pacing and turned to Nyreen. “What?” she shouted back.

 

“You’re done with training for today. I have something else for you to do.” Nyreen replied.

 

Brill jogged back to Nyreen, stopping in front of her. “Something? Got a job for me?” she asked, she sounded hopeful, happy to have a break from the biotic training that was going nowhere.

 

“I have a package I need you to deliver.”

 

“A package?” Brill’s eyebrow raised curiously. “Package of stolen eezo?” she said jokingly.

 

“No, that would be something I’d never have you do. History shows you’re not very good at it.” Nyreen remarked.

 

“Ouch.”

 

“I need you to deliver a package to Aria T’loak.”

 

Brill coughed loudly, nearly forgetting to breathe. “Aria?! You do remember that I use to steal from her, right?”

 

“She doesn’t know that. She doesn’t know who you are, you’re just delivering a package. Just go to Afterlife, and deliver the package personally. Straight to Aria, that’s it.” Nyreen explained.

 

“What’s in the package? Body parts? Credits?”

 

“Just go get the job done. Torin is waiting for you with the package.”

 

“I I don’t come back, you’ll come save me right?”

 

“Brill!”

 

“On it!” Brill booked it out of the training room, detecting Nyreen’s thin line of patience. She exited the room and made her way to the gate where Torin waited for her. “Got a package for me Torin?”

 

Torin looked up from where he sat beside the entrance just as unnoticeable as his brother in his little corner. “Yeah.” He stood up, sizing up Brill. “Turn your vest inside out.” He instructed.

 

Brill’s eyes widened. “What?”

 

“Probably better that no one knows you’re a Talon. As far as anyone knows, we’re an all turian group so keep it that way. Our leader is Derius, not Nyreen, you’re just delivering the package.” As Torin spoke, Brill followed his instructions, removing her vest and putting it on backwards to hide the Talon symbol on the back. “Go straight there and come straight back, don’t be sneaky and wonder off. It’s a straight forward job. It’s better for you to just come straight back.” Torin explained.

 

Brill adjusted her vest before looking back up at Torin. “Alright.” Though the contents still interested her, Torin was correct. She hadn’t left the compound since she had arrived and unfortunately, because of her disappearance, the Blood Pack probably wanted her head. “Anything else?” she asked.

 

“Yeah.” Torin turned, grabbing something beside his seat and turning back to hand it to Brill. At the sight of it, Brill staggers back. “Just in case.”

 

“No.” Brill said, quickly. “I’m not going to carry a gun.”

 

“Look.” Torin grabbed Brill’s hand before she could step away and placed her hand on the gun, holding it in place so she couldn’t pull way. “You haven’t mastered your biotics yet, which means you need another way to protect yourself till you do. You won’t need to shoot anyone, but if you do, if you need it… aim for the legs, won’t kill anyone.” Torin explained.

 

Brill remained hesitant, staring at the gun. At least Torin was honest, for all she knew she could need it out there. She never wanted to wield a gun, with slightest chance of killing someone, she didn’t want to take that chance. Now though, she needed the protection for her first day out. Brill tightened her grip on the gun and nodded. “Okay.” Torin released it to her and she tucked it into her belt.

 

“I’ll get you a magnetic clip later, more secure than tucking it there.” Torin continued, he turned around and grabbed a crate behind him, hoisting it up, and turned back towards her. “This is the package.”

 

Brill looked down at the crate, eyeing it interestingly. It wasn’t very big and it wasn’t very small either, what the hell was in it? “That’s for Aria? What’s in it?” she asked, curious.

 

“Best if you don’t know.” Torin offered up the crate and Brill took it, weighing it in her hands. It was fairly light so it couldn’t be body parts, credits maybe? “You’re just a deliverer, the less you know about the actual package the better. Don’t be worried about it. Just in and out, for all Aria’s people know you are just a package delivery. Don’t want Aria suspecting anything suspicious, don’t want her finding out about your previous line of service.”

 

Brill rolled her eyes. There was no way Aria’s men would find out. “Okay. I’ll play along with the cloak and dagger shit.” She said.

 

“Better that way.” Torin keyed into his omni-tool and the gate hissed open, he motioned towards the door. “Have fun.”

 

“Yeah.” Brill exited. “Loads.” The door closed behind her and she was left in the walkway alone, holding the crate in her arms. “Fun.” Brill began her trek down the walkway.

 

It didn’t take long for her to reach Afterlife, having taken the hidden passages she was use to frequenting. Brill’s journeys to Afterlife were very few and far between, most of the club being a human hating bar. Especially since Brill was stealing from Aria, she preferred to stay away from the Queen’s headquarters. Most of the time the bouncers didn’t even let someone like her inside. It would be amazing if they let her in now, even if she held a crate for Aria. Still, Kandros sent her here for a reason.

 

There was a long line of people trying to get into Afterlife, but a krogan bouncer stood at the front of this line, his arms crossed, preventing all of them from entering. Brill bypassed the line and made a Bee line for the bouncer with her package. At the sight of her approach made the bouncer turn his attention as he held up a hand to stop her.

 

“No one goes in.” the krogan said, sounding almost automatic.

 

Brill looked down at the package in her hand, lifting it a little. “Guess Aria won’t get her package. I think it has a note: ‘with love from Derius’ I don’t know about you, but it sounds important.” She replied. At the name, Derius, the krogan glanced down at the package. Well, the name perked the bouncer’s interest.

 

The krogan stepped aside. “Go on ahead.”

 

Brill glanced at the people in line who stared in disbelief. She shrugged and made her way up the stairs to Afterlife. Behind her, the people in line shouted in protest, claiming bullshit. Brill kept going, leaving the protestors behind, letting the door open and close behind her. Entering, the music got louder and the lights quickly dimmed. Digital fire lit the walls on either side of the hall, couches with patrons sat flush against them. As she carried the package, she watched the glances she received by the many aliens as she approached the door with the glowing words that read Afterlife. Brill looked ahead, ignoring the stares and glances, get in and out just like Torin said. The doors hissed open and Brill almost staggered at the blast of music, she kept her ground, adjusting her ears to blare to take in the club.

 

The center of Afterlife held a large cylindrical tower, a video projection of asari dancers flashed by on the tower. Surrounding the tower was a platform that held the elegant dancers, all of them dancing with the poles holding up the platform. There were a ton of patrons surrounding the dancers and others at the bars around the outer ring. Fire ablaze above at the VIP lounges high above. So this was Afterlife, did they love the color red?

 

Brill moved forward, the fact that she carried the crate caught the attention of patrons and they watched her. This wasn’t spooky at all. Don’ stare back and keep moving, you have a job to do. Aria’s spot was just on the other side of the tower, directly across from the entrance, she just needed to navigate past the bars. Despite Brill’s hair growing back, she still looked young, and a clear target. Brill quickened her pace, passing the curious patron as she quickly made her way to the stairs up to Aria’s overlook. There was a guard on the first landing of the stairs, he took a glance at Brill, but didn’t move to stop her as she went up the stairs. Brill hesitated, but he guard nodded upwards so she continued no doubt the bouncer at the door gave them the all clear.

 

Seeing the nod, Brill kept going, ascending the stairs with her delivery. She kept going until he arrived at the second landing that met with Aria’s overlook. Just a few more steps and Brill would be at Aria’s front door, right in front of her signature couch. Brill slowly glanced up the stairs towards the couch, her sight instantly catching Aria T’loak’s heels. Aria T’loak. Brill had frozen mid stair, stuck and unable to move, this was Aria, the Queen.

 

Brill’s eyes continued to scale upwards, taking in the view of Aria’s backside and figure as she stood, facing away. Her heart was beginning to race, her eyes glued to the familiar symbol on the back of Aria’s jacket. A batarian stood next to her, her second in command they say. Keep moving, but Brill almost felt crippled at the sight of the Queen, she willed herself to continue. One step. Two step.

 

“That’s close enough.” Brill froze, Aria’s voice giving her a chill, the command in it. The batarian raised his arm, a data pad in his hand.

 

“Put it down.” The batarian said. Brill hesitated, staring at the batarian. “The crate.” Brill nearly jumped as she remembered where she was and what she was doing, trying not to focus on Aria’s backside.

 

Brill quickly set the package down on the landing, right at the top step. Brill stayed where she was on the stairs, right behind the package.

 

“Open it.” The chill made Brill ball her hands into fists to keep her composure once more. Aria glanced to the side as she spoke, Brill stared at her profile, the low light barely showed Aria’s looks. With her silhouette alone, Brill was… perplexed and not at all paying attention to Aria’s request.

 

“Open the crate.” The batarian repeated, Brill shook herself awake, bending over and unlatching the crate. She opened it, she barely lifted the lid when a thought crossed her that maybe there was actually a bomb inside. The lid was already open... so much for that now. Brill opened it up the rest of the way, glancing inside to see the contents.

 

Credits. A lot of credits at that.

 

Brill stared at the contents, no wonder Torin insisted on the cloak and dagger. The amount of credits in the crate was cray, what the hell did the Talons owe? Aria turned around then, taking a seat on her couch, her eyes on the contents of the crate, her legs folded. “They’re learning.” Brill was speechless once more, seeing the entirety of the Queen, calm and controlling as she sat. Her purple skin blending into the dark lighting. “How much is it, Bray?” Aria asked. Bray, the batarian, used his omni-tool to quickly scan the credits in the crate, coming up with the total.

 

“It’s enough. As promised.” Bray lowered his omni-tool. “Derius paid the price.”

 

“He would be smart to.” Aria added. Apparently no one outside the Talons knew that Kandros was the leader, not Derius. Something Kandros wanted to remain confidential, who knew why. At that, Aria looked up from the crate, her cold eyes finally settling on Brill. Being noticed made Brill flinch beneath her gaze.

 

“When did the Talons start recruiting humans?” Her question made Brill hesitate, Torin told her to avoid association with the Talons, just a delivery.

 

“Talons? No, not me. They just hired me to deliver this package. Didn’t even know what was inside.” Brill said. She always said one lie with one truth, felt safer that way, less noticeable, and it made her a good liar. Hopefully the Queen of Omega wasn’t good at detecting liars.

 

Bray looked up curiously from his data pad while Aria mulled over that information. Looks like they bought it. Aria looked away, having lost her interest in Brill. “Pay the man, Bray.” Pay? Man? Shit, so many days have passed and still looked like a man. At least she misidentified as a man rather than a young boy.

 

Bray stepped forward, blocking the Queen from Brill’s sight as he offered her some credits. Well, at least she was getting paid for this. Brill took the credits, pocketing them and turning around to leave. Get in, get out, just like Torin said. She quickly descended the stairs, fleeing the Queen and possibly getting caught. Once she reached the landing, she turned towards the other stairs and stopped, hesitant as she quickly glanced back towards the Queen of Omega one last time.

 

Light blue eyes locked with Brill’s brown. It was a curious look that Aria gave Brill, maybe it was the fact that a human delivered the package that made her curious. It was the look though, for the first time since arriving, Brill felt calm, Aria’s stare didn’t make her flinch or shiver. The fact that Aria was looking at Brill curiously made her seem more… human? When Brill was arriving she kept thinking of Aria as the Queen of Omega, but now… now she looked like Aria T’loak. It made her less imposing, less commanding than how she was just seconds ago.

 

Brill stared back at Aria for what felt like a lifetime, though it was probably just a few seconds. Brill was the first to break the eye contact, Torin’s reminder ringing in her ears. She left, leaving before Aria could look away, leaving curiosity behind. Hopefully, she’ll never again find herself in the presence of Aria T’loak again.

 

Hopefully.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Talon headquarters was fairly quiet when Brill arrived back, Torin let her back in and went back to his seat next to the entrance. It was late in the day, half of the group probably called it a night, those who were still awake were guards. Brill glanced round the empty warehouse, the lights were dimmed, giving the peaceful ambiance of sleep. With the excitement of today, she wasn’t quite ready to call it a night.

 

Brill stood near the entrance, mulling over what she could do even with it being late. She glanced towards the door of the armory, there was always the possibility that Amvius was still awake, guarding the armory. Was worth checking. Brill made her way through the darkened area towards the armory, the door hissing open for her to step through.

 

The armory was dark, the lights turned off, maybe Amvius was asleep. A rustle near the back of the armory told her that he was. Brill made her way to the back, watching Amvius stand up in the dark, he had been sitting. Amvius tapped on a light, illuminating his small cot. He slept here, obviously.

 

Amvius stretched himself out, leaning against the wall next to his cot, watching Brill curiously. “How’d the delivery go?” he asked, motioning at a chair nearby for her to sit.

 

Brill took the seat, mulling over the events of today and her primary question. “Why the hell did the Talons owe Aria so much money?”

 

Amvius nodded, he knew that’s what Brill was going to ask. “Our previous leader was Derius, he was an idiot. We run a red sand smuggling operation, its traditional for all groups to give a cut to T’loak. Derius decided to keep it for himself. Ended up with Aria’s daughter and a bunch of operatives took a shipment of red sand, killing about a third of us with no casualties. Derius ended up negotiating with Aria over the attack, she got a bigger cut from the business. We all knew there was no chance in fucking around with her.” Amvius explained.

 

“Don’t fuck with Aria.” Brill repeated, the one rule of Omega.

 

“Derius didn’t stick around long after that. Kandros showed up and took over. We still deal with red sand, it’s not our primary business now. Kandros is all about killing for hire and doing things for the people of Omega.” Amvius continued.

 

“The people of Omega?” Brill said, her voice sarcastic to the idea of it.

 

“Kandros will have more stuff for you to do, you’ll see what she’s all about.” Amvius concluded, glancing away. “She’ll probably wait till you’re more prepared.” He looked back at Brill, spying the gun on her belt. “Torin got you to take gun?”

 

Brill flinched, feeling the gun on her hip, she had forgotten that she had it. “Yeah… my biotics are nowhere up to speed. I figured he was right that I needed it just in case. The Blood Pack are probably after my head.”

 

Amvius chuckled. “Your biotics would improve faster if you didn’t let your lessons stress you out.” He explained. “You need to start fresh, clear your head of all the stress and start over. I think it’ll help you with your biotics.”

 

Brill folded her arms across her chest and grimaced. “Relieve my stress? Sure, I’ll get right to that.” She replied sarcastically.

 

“It’s not too difficult. Turians relieve stress in several different ways in the military. Ships have a sparring ring to help settle disputes as well as relieve stress. You use the sparring ring here religiously, clearly not enough of a stress reliever for you.” Amvius continued. His mandibles twitched as he considered her predicament.

 

“Now I understand why everyone says turians have sticks up their asses.” Brill commented, rolling her eyes at Amvius.

 

Amvius chuckled and nodded. “Not wrong. We spar, work and…” His voice trailed off as another option crossed his mind. “Have you considered sex?”

 

Brill looked at him curiously, rolling her eyes at him. “Cause I’ve had a great opportunity to get laid.”

 

“Joking aside, I’m serious. It’s probably been a long time for you since you’ve had sex.” The look on Brill’s face easily answered his question. “Sex can be a basic need. Some people need that release and it is a great way to relive stress as well as sleep.” Amvius went on, pushing herself off from the wall. “Here it’s easy to find someone just to have that quick release. No strings attached.”

 

Brill considered that, chewing the inside of her cheek. “Because turians often need it as a stress relief.” She thought out loud. Living her life surrounded by more aliens than humans gave her a better insight on different cultures. Having sex to relive stress with no strings attached; humans would probably call her a whore. Considering how long it had been, the idea wasn’t entirely a bad one.

 

“It will probably help you greatly considering how long it’s been, it’s probably resulted in added stress, considering.” Amvius added.

 

Brill grinned, looking at Amvius with one eyebrow raised. “Why? You giving me a proposition?” she asked coyly.

 

“Perhaps. You feel comfortable around me from the lessons. You’re certainly more comfortable around me than you are Torin. I’d be pleased to offer my assistance.” Leave it to a turian to casually offer sex without seeming bothered by it. She never had sex with a turian before but it wasn’t like no one ever has before, it certainly was possible, with the added benefit of not getting pregnant with a cross species baby. Amvius was already very coy with her, maybe it was something he had been considering for a long time, but not knowing his boundaries with Brill he waited till and opportunity to suggest it arose. It wasn’t like there was anyone else in the Talons that she felt comfortable enough with to find that relief. The offer from Amvius even, she didn’t mind the idea.

 

“I’ll take it.” Brill replied with a grin. “I’ll apologize ahead of time, I’m a bit rusty.”

 

Amvius chuckled, slowly approaching Brill, his hand resting on her shoulder as he helped slip her vest off her shoulders. “No worries. I wouldn’t mind taking our time.”

 

“Shut up.” Brill pressed her hand against Amvius’s chest, pushing him back towards his cot till he sat on the small mattress. Satisfied with his new position at her eye level, she slipped her shirt off over her head. Her breasts were already so small she never bothered wearing a bra because it was just more comfortable this way. She unbuckled her pants as well, letting her pants as well as her underwear drop to the floor, stepping out of her discarded clothing to approach Amvius. With Amvius sitting on the edge of the small cot, Brill slid herself in, carefully straddling his waist and sitting down on his lap. His hands went up, his talons loosely running along Brill’s back to feel her bare skin. Brill reached back, grabbing his hands and putting them back to his sides. “No, you’re not going to touch. Not yet.” She said, her voice stern and almost commanding, the sudden change in Brill’s voice caught Amvius by surprise, but he obeyed, letting Brill push him back onto the mattress.

 

With Amvius laying down on the cot, Brill adjusted herself on his hip, letting him adjust to bring his legs up onto the bed. Comfortable once more, Brill shuffled herself down, unbuckling Amvius’s pants, tugging them down and tossing them aside, it was clear that he wasn’t aroused quite enough. Brill sat up once more, resting herself just above Amvius’s sensitive plates that protected the member that needed just a little more coaxing. She rested her hand on Amvius’s chest and slowly rolled her hips back, rocking herself against him, using her hand to steady herself as she slowly rock against his plates.

 

Amvius groaned at the pressure against his plates, feeling Brill slowly coax him out. Despite his want to feel the woman, he kept his arms at his sides, not daring to help Brill rock against him in any way, he knew better than to disobey. Brill had said ‘not yet’, it was only a matter of time before she let him, as long as she got her way. It didn’t take long before Amvius’s plates shifted, his member sliding out from its protective space. Feeling it come free, Brill leaned back, grasping him in her hand and making him groan loudly as she gently fisted his member.

 

Brill looked at the penis in her hand, feeling the ridges in it, completely different from a human’s, that was for sure, not to mention the fact that it was blue. She glanced up from her inspection to look at Amvius, he wasn’t doing well to hold himself back, typical. She could either give him some freedom or do something to prevent him from breaking the rules until she decided it was okay. Brill chose the later. She released her grip from him, sitting up so she sat just above his erect member, with her hands free she grabbed his arms and positioned her legs to pin his arms to his sides. It wasn’t too strong of a pin, but it would certainly prevent him from doing anything without tossing her off by accident, which he certainly wouldn’t want to do. Once Amvius realized what Brill was doing, she could hear a deep growl in his throat in protest, but she ignored it, simply grinning at his verbal frustration before positioning herself just above his throbbing member. He wouldn’t be complaining for very long.

 

Brill grasped Amvius once more, helping guide the member as she slowly lowered herself onto him. As soon as Amvius entered her, Brill took a sharp breath, letting herself adjust to his girth, it had been such a long time since her last, she needed time to readjust. Amvius watched keenly as Brill slowly lowered herself, as he slid deeper, her tongue idly licked her bottom lip, watching Amvius’s reactions. The strain of adjusting made Brill start to sweat, taking care to go slow so as to not injure herself by going too fast, specially considering the fact that a turian penis was larger than a human’s. When Brill’s inner thighs met Amvius’s lap she breathed a sigh, running a hand through her hair that had become slightly damp, damn the armory was hot, she rolled her hips, feeling how he felt inside her. Good, Brill decided, rolling her hips more to produce a low growl from Amvius, he wanted more than the teasing she was giving him. Brill found herself grinning again at Amvius’s obvious frustration, it made her wonder just how long it had been for him, how desirable was a turian with such bad facial wound?

 

Brill continued to rock herself against Amvius, feeling the ridges and grooves of his member, she could feel his breathing become heaves beneath her hand as he tried to control himself. Turians were very animalistic in a way, she knew how they behaved and although she never saw a turian having sex before, she certainly heard it from her neighbors living with a turian mercenary group. From the sounds alone, she imagined turian sex to be rough, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, she did like the idea of rough sex she just preferred things to go more her way. Seeing Amvius beneath her, struggle and become agitated from his lack of control and actions, it was exhilarating to be in control and have Amvius at her mercy. If he wanted pleasure, he had to depend on Brill’s actions, and hers alone.

 

Brill kept both hands on Amvius, steadying herself with his body beneath her as she began to lift herself from his member, she did it slowly, pulling him out slowly just barely to his tip before slowly bringing herself back down onto his throbbing member. His body shook beneath her, he wanted control, he wanted the antagonizing pace to end but Brill continued, a grin on her face as she continued the slow agonizing thrusts, savoring each inch as she slowly went up and down, never letting Amvius’s member come completely out from her. The slow pace was taking its toll on her as well, her breathing was faster, licking her dry lips as she found herself starting to moan, wanting more but enjoying the look of desperation on Amvius’s face.

 

Brill finally gave in, she sat up, freeing Amvius’s member from her so she could adjust herself and free his arms from his sides. She looked down between them to see his member glisten with her juices, how she was able to go that slow and not come, she had no idea. Brill let Amvius free his arms from his sides, seeing his freedom he quickly sat up, growling as he lifted himself until his head was just inches from hers, panting heavily as he looked at her. His intensity made Brill smirk, she sat back, still straddling his legs as they sat there, both of them breathing heavily and only inches from each other. Brill continued her coy smile, wrapping her arms around Amvius’s neck, pressing herself against him, he felt rough against her smooth skin but she actually enjoyed the feel of him against her. Amvius didn’t move, he seemed almost confused, not sure if he could proceed without being pinned to the bed once more, his hesitance made Brill’s smirk grow, the fact that he was seeking permission to continue.

 

“Well?” Brill said. The one word was all it took for Amvius to realize and take the invitation, wrapping his arms around Brill and thrusting himself into her. His sudden action made Brill gasp and throw her head back, her arms wrapping around his head as he dipped his head down to lick at her sensitive skin, continuing his quick thrusts now that he finally had his permission. She let him have his way, letting both of them finally get what they both wanted, at the very least she knew she still had the control she wanted, to know she could have him beneath her once more unable to move or act without her permission.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Brill woke up with a start, jerking herself up to a sitting position and she realized her surroundings weren’t familiar. She was hit with a sudden fear but she quickly remembered where she was. The armory. Amvius slept next to her on the small bed, snoring lightly, his presence quickly reminded her of the two hour long stress reliever she had just undergo with the turian. Brill lightly bit her bottom lip, licking her lips as she remembered the events, he wasn’t wrong, it was seriously something she needed and greatly enjoyed. Working in a group full of turians certainly had its perks.

 

Brill slipped her legs off the bed to the edge and quietly sat up from the bed to find her clothes. Everyone as probably asleep at this time of night, it was the best time for her to slip back to her room without anyone noticing, not that anyone would care that she had slept with Amvius, they would probably celebrate, knowing there would no longer be a fear of Brill blowing up a hole in the ceiling from her lack of biotic control. Brill bent down and grabbed her pants, she quickly tug them on and secured them with her belt. The armory was dark unfortunately, making it near impossible for her to find her shirt and vest on the floor. Brill bent down, pawing around the ground with her hands, trying to find the damn clothing without waking Amvius. It couldn’t have gone far, it wasn’t like she flung it across the room or anything.

 

“Need help?” Brill looked up from where she crouched on the floor to see Amvius resting on the bed, his elbow propping up his head as he watched her search. Even in the darkness, he could see her failing attempts to find the rest of her clothing.

 

Brill rolled her eyes at Amvius, returning her focus back to finding her shirt. “Can’t find my vest and shirt.” She said, glancing underneath the bed to no avail. “I didn’t toss it did I?” She stood up, glancing around the dark room, unfortunately her shirt and vest were both dark and blended into the floor.

 

“No. Not really.” Amvius grabbed Brill’s arm, steering her back to him. “You can stay here if you want.” He offered, Brill shook her head.

 

“No. You’re bed is too small to fit both of us anyways.” Brill replied, sitting on the edge of the bed, she had to find the rest of her clothes before she could leave regardless. She stared off into the dark armory, staying silent and despite her decision to leave she pulled her legs back onto the bed and under the covers for warmth. “Suppose I should say thanks.”

 

“It has been a long time for you.” Amvius said with a chuckle. Brill rolled her eyes, nudging his shoulder.

 

“Thanks anyways, I needed that.” Brill repeated, lying back down on the bed. “Will Torin bug me about sleeping with his brother?”

 

“Maybe a little. He won’t say much though. What goes on behind closed doors is no one’s business. Everyone keeps to themselves, I’m sure Kandros will appreciate your improvement in biotics.” Amvius sat up, glancing near the foot of the bed, he bent down and fished up Brill’s shirt from the ground. He sat back and dropped the shirt onto Brill as she lay on the bed. “We’ll see how much better you fare tomorrow.”

 

Brill held her shirt to her chest loosely, staring at the ceiling. “I appreciate what Kandros did, bringing me in. I just don’t understand what her play is. There’s no reason for bringing me into this. I was a thief. What good am I to the Talons anyways? Besides that she said I could leave at any time but I really can’t. The Blood Pack is probably looking for my head, I owe them, they want me dead. I can’t leave, if I do The Blood Pack will find me and gun me down. I appreciate Kandros bringing me in, but I’m ultimately screwed. I can never leave, what will I have to do when I do decide to leave? Nothing, I’ll be right back on the streets of Omega stealing.” She sighed.

 

Amvius gently laid back down onto the bed, propping his head up by his elbow. “You’re not screwed. You are free to leave. Granted, the Blood Pack will probably be after your head, considering. Kandros isn’t going to let you go out on your own by yourself, no one here will.” He said, he drew the covers up over Brill, keeping her warm in the armory. “We have a saying here. Kandros reminds all of us to it. Once a Talon, always a Talon. If you decide to leave Torin and even I won’t let you off on your own. You’ll always be one of us, we’ll help you out if you ever need it.” He explained. “Kandros gave you the freedom to come and go if need be. As for the reason of her bringing you here… well, Kandros has her reasons, whatever the reason, I’m sure you’ll find it out eventually. It’ll come to you.”

 

“Right.” Brill sat up finally, slipping her shirt on at last. “Maybe if I grow myself a carapace and some talons then I’ll be an actual Talon.”

 

“You’re a turian in spirit, Brill.” Amvius chuckled, nudging her back as she slipped off the bed. “Good night.”

 

Brill rolled her eyes, getting up from the bed and bending down to the ground as he finally spied her vest. “Good night, Amvius, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really torn on whether or not to write the sex scene with Brill and Amvius because honestly I really suck at it, don't lie to me its just bad. I need someone else to do that shit or at least find a text book on how to right better sex scenes. Regardless, I figured I should pull myself through it, rather than omit that part of Brill's life. Not to mention Amvius was a big part on her settling in with the Talons, just because Amvius is a male turian I didn't want to omit that from the entire story and only focus on any lesbian relationships because that's the only thing I feel confident enough to write. I'm not sure what sexuality Brill is either in fact, I was asking myself that when I realized her and Amvius had a cushy friendship like that and I realized I have no damn idea and Brill really doesn't either. Oh well, leave it to the character to confuse the fuck out of you. Sorry this took so damn long, but I hope you enjoy it.


	4. Chapter 4

_5 months later..._

It was dark, which was typical in regards to the fact that it was night time. Brill had a tendency to wake up in the dead of night, she didn’t mind it but it was seriously cutting in to her sleep time. Brill glanced around the dark room, feeling the space on the bed next to her to find the body of the sleeping turian. So he had snuck into her room last night, she almost forgot that he had, it wasn’t like she minded. Since the first night, Brill and Amvius had an equal agreement with their friendship, and if the relief was necessary for either, they could easily find the release with one another. Amvius would enter her room when he needed it and Brill would enter the armory when she needed it as well. It was a cushy agreement that left Brill rather pleased, since she was actually useful to her friend in more ways than one. It didn’t take long for her to realize that several people in the group had that agreement with others considering how stressful it was working in the mercenary group. 

Brill nudged her sleeping companion, stirring the sleeping turian. “Amvius, wake up.” She said, the turian rolling slightly in the bed before finally sitting up. “You good?”

Amvius slowly nodded, maneuvering himself over Brill to get off the bed. As soon as he got off, he stretched and bent down to find his pants on the ground. “Sorry for barging in on you so late at night.” Amvius secured his pants and glanced at Brill where she sat on the bed. 

“Its okay Amvius. Anytime remember?” Brill replied with a smile, she bent back to relax on the bed, watching Amvius stand in the middle of her small room.

“Same to you.” Instead of leaving, Amvius sat down on the edge of the bed. “How’s your training going? I hear less cursing coming from the training room.” He asked.

Brill shrugged. “Yeah, smacking myself into the wall a lot less. I guess that’s an improvement.” Brill flopped down onto her pillow, resting her arms above her head as she rested on her back. “Can I ask you something, Amvius?”

“Shoot.”

“Remember when I delivered the credits to Aria T’loak? The cut from the red sand trades?” Amvius nodded, it wasn’t that long ago. “It was easy to do, but I’ve been stuck on it. I’ve never met her before but meeting her… going up those stairs to meet her. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

Amvius cocked his head, curious at Brill’s words. He adjusted himself on the bed, turning to face Brill. “What do you mean?”  
“She had this… aura, this feeling of control over a whole area, over everyone there.” Brill raised a hand towards the ceiling, looking at the ceiling between her fingers as she fanned them out. “That feeling she gave off. Just being in her presence I could tell how powerful she was how no one could stand against her, people only obeyed. That kind of presence is something I’ll never have.” Brill’s voice trailed off and she dropped her arm back to her side, her eyes locked on the ceiling.

“You think you won’t ever have that?”

The statement made Brill laugh, shaking her head at Amvius. “Hell no. I’m not like that. I don’t have that kind of power over someone. Look at me I look like a child. I’m not a leader like that, not like Kandros either. She commands all the Talons and me, I’m nothing compared to that.”

Amvius chuckled, his laughter proceeded with an angry look from Brill that made him chuckle even more. “Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh. I just find it funny that you really think you’re not capable of that. Before, when you were stealing for the Blood Pack you never had a chance like that to be in control. The Blood Pack controlled you, you were barely surviving on your own with them beating you up.” He explained, Brill’s rolling eyes made him grab her arm to jerk her attention back. “I’m serious. You may not think you are capable of that sort of power, but you’ve never had a chance to. I’ll be honest with you, people behave differently in front of people and alone in an intimate setting. I’ve seen the real Brill these past few days. The Brill that never got to live on the streets of Omega because of the Blood Pack, but now, now you’re the one in control.”

Amvius’s story made Brill sit up on her bed, propping herself up with her elbows. “That… no. That’s just.” She started.

“Sex? It’s a vulnerable moment people come out during those moments.” Amvius continued, Brill’s expression unchanged as she listened to him. “That feeling you got around Aria, the feeling of power is what you express when it’s just the two of us. I feel that with you; that commanding feeling. You have the control when it’s just the two of us and I have to say, when we first had sex, you like that, it was a pleasant surprise.”

Brill looked rather surprised, an eyebrow raising as she looked at Amvius. “You mean… you… liked that?” she asked, curious.

“Very much so.” Amvius said, Brill’s expression turning to shock. “Turian women behave similarly, having you behave that way it was unexpected but it was a fascinating discovery. A lot of men look for a commanding woman like that who takes control. I won’t lie and say I’m not one of those men, I certainly am. I think you are that kind of woman but you’ve only been able to show the real you between the two of us. Being free now from the Blood Pack, being with the Talons now you have a chance to actually be that strong commanding woman that you see in Kandros and T’loak.” Brill closed her eyes and shook her head, she couldn’t believe what he was saying. 

“All of us here, we believe Kandros has a motive for bringing you here. Some of us were doubtful about it but I believe Kandros does have a plan for you, just like everyone else here thinks. Knowing how you behave just the two of us, I believe the plan she has for you is meant for you.” Amvius continued to explain, Brill sat up at that.

“Wait, what do you mean Kandros has a plan for me? Everyone thinks they know the reason why she brought me into the Talons?” Brill asked.

“Exactly. We all had our own ideas but we all came to a similar conclusion. Kandros taking you in and training you in biotics personally.” Amvius continued, Brill leaning back to relax onto her bed. “We all think… that Kandros is training you to take over should something happen to her.”

“Take over the Talons?” Brill shouted, Amvius waved his hand at her, calming the woman down.

“It’s a theory, but yes. We all think that’s her end game. She saw in you the capability to lead the Talons. I see it in you too. You haven’t seen it in yourself yet.” Amvius stood up then, turning to look at Brill as she sat on the bed. “You haven’t had time to. Being with the Talons, you’ll feel it come to you. When you choose to leave you won’t be living on the streets of Omega like you were before, you’ll be different, stronger, and you certainly won’t be on you own. The Blood Pack acted like they owned you, next time you’ll be the one in control.” Amvius finished, glancing at the door, Brill was silent; processing. “I’m going to head back. You know where to find me.” He finished, the door hissing open and closing behind him as he left.

Brill stayed where she was staring at the sink at the foot of her bed. That was Kandros’s play? Why did Kandros think she would make a good leader for the Talons? Of course, it could just be theories from everyone in the group, there was no guarantee that was her plan. Still. Brill flopped back down onto the bed and rolled to her side, shifting herself around in the bed. It was cold now that Amvius was no longer in the bed. At least now she could try and get some sleep.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Suffice it to say, Brill didn’t get any more sleep that night. Instead of trying to catch up on sleep throughout the day, she got dressed and headed down to the communications array where Kandros worked. She always started early, organizing the profits as well as the red sand operations. 

From the looks of things, not everyone had woken for the day’s events, Kandros being the only one leaning over the communications array as she viewed the daily operations. Brill watched the turian as she approached, adjusting her vest before resting her hip on the array, her arms crossed as she looked at the turian.

“Mornin.” Brill said, Kandros didn’t look up from her work, keeping her head down.

“Brill.” Kandros acknowledged, she still kept her head down her mandibles clicking slightly as she focused. All turians did that when they were thinking really hard. “You’re up early.”

Brill shrugged, glancing at the gate where Torin always sat, he was there now looking at his Omni-tool. She was too far away to hear what Torin was saying to himself but from what she could tell, there was someone at the door asking to get in. “I couldn’t sleep.” Brill said, looking back at Kandros. “Figured I might as well get started early.”

Kandros finally leaned back away from the array looking at Brill. “You have been progressing better than you were before.” She observed, it wasn’t a secret that Brill was sleeping with Amvius either. Pretty much every Talon knew that already, none of them minded though, granted most did give Amvius a congratulations, now that no one feared Brill snapping from stress. “I have one thing for you to do today.”

Brill raised her eyebrow curiously at Kandros. “Is it delivering a package to The Queen of Omega again?” She asked jokingly.

“No. Aria would get suspicious if the same person delivered the package.” Kandros shook her head, nodding towards the gate. “There’s some disputes going on with the other mercenary groups. People are getting caught in the crossfire because of it. I’m sending you and a few other Talons to make sure no innocents get caught in the animosity.”

So, Amvius wasn’t wrong when he said Kandros had a mission to help the people of Omega. Brill was getting use to it, the missions that ended up helping innocent civilians rather than harm others. Brill wasn’t out to hurt anyone anyways, so getting assignments that resulted in helping people rather than hurting them was something she was all for. Either way, she would have to accept the assignment since she was a member of the group. She had to do her part, she owed Kandros that much.

“Sounds like fun.”

“Kandros!” Brill spun around, Torin was calling Kandros from the door, apparently whoever wanted to get in demanded the leader’s attention. “We got a problem over here.” That definitely wasn’t good.

Kandros looked over at Torin who beckoned her over, she hesitated, glancing momentarily at Brill before looking back at Torin. “Use the backdoor. You know the way. I’ll have two others meet you at the lower wards. Be discreet.” She said, looking Brill dead in the eye. The intensity of Nyreen’s eyes made Brill flinch, why so discreet? More so, who the hell was at the door? Brill nodded, acknowledging what she was supposed to do, “NOW!” Kandros pointed in the direction of the hatch. Brill jumped and quickly departed, glancing over her shoulder as she left to see Kandros march her way to Torin. Whoever was at the door warranted Brill leaving, but who could it be?

Brill stopped as soon as she reached the hatch to the maintenance tunnels, she never explored it enough to know there was an access directly into the base, but Kandros later showed the hatch to her. Granted, the space from the hatch to the main tunnels was so small only Brill could fit through it on her stomach. She wasn’t one for tight spaces and rarely used the access, but this time Kandros insisted. Brill made her way down the access, it was a small ladder trip to the small compartment, after that was the small space that led to the tunnels. It was how Kandros found it in the first place, though she herself couldn’t fit into the small space. How Kandros even found out that it lead to the tunnels is still a mystery, though it was better to just not question her decisions so Brill didn’t bother to ask. If it lead to the tunnels, it lead to the tunnels or quite possibly Brill’s death. Would be a bad way to go down.

Brill laid flat on her stomach and crawled into the small space. Whatever was happening back at HQ was still on her mind as she squeezed through the small space. It must have been important business that Kandros had to take care of, that or she just didn’t want Brill being a part of it. Why Brill though? Was it because she was still new to the Talons that maybe she wouldn’t understand? Maybe it was another incident like what happened with Aria? To everyone else, the Talons were still a turian only group, Brill was the odd ball out. From what happened with Aria, it became evident that everyone wanted to keep the idea that it was an all turian group. To the people of Omega, the Talons never changed, under the rule of Darius and filled with turians. Why was Kandros so secretive about the group? She was trying so hard to hide the fact that she was in charge to everyone in Omega, especially Aria T’loak. Of course, if one person in Omega found out the truth, it would probably quickly spread to the Queen. Granted Brill had found out, but she was just good at listening and not being noticed. 

Brill finally made her way to the end of the small space, squeezing herself out until she was able to get to her feet and take a deep breath. Damn, confined spaces were not her thing. She glanced down the tunnels, gathering her bearings as she smoothed her clothes. As she smoothed out her vest, Brill’s hand grazed the gun on her hip, reminding herself that it was there. She knew how to use it, Torin made her sure to have her practice despite her reserve of even wielding the gun. The least she could do was learn how to use the damn thing, not that she planned on using it anytime soon. Brill shook her head, lowering her hand from the gun and making her way down the tunnel towards the wards. Lower wards, the Talons was very use to policing the wards most of the time especially when most of the animosity had to do with the other mercenary groups. For some reason there was always someone who decided to cause a ruckus to civilians just because they can’t fuck around with Aria or else they’re business is screwed. They had to vent their frustration elsewhere. In the past, the mercenary groups vented out their frustration on one vagrant, what was his name again? Some turian that kept mowing down the groups as well as several freelancers that were hired on just to kill the guy.

“Archangel.” Brill mumbled, she spotted the access ladder upwards. It would take her to the lower wards where the others were waiting for her. What ever happened to that Archangel guy anyways? Around that time Brill wasn’t working with the Blood Pack, she was earning enough money looting apartments in a district that had been sealed off because of a disease that spread to everyone BUT humans. The one lucky break she ever got out of life. Archangel had disappeared almost entirely from rumors soon after the disease was cured, as well as several mercenary groups went silent. He probably kicked their ass.

Brill opened the hatch at the top of the ladder and peeked her head out to see the outside. There wasn’t a sign of anyone in the vicinity, perfect timing to climb out and find the others. She heaved the hatch the rest of the way open and climbed out of the access, making sure to close the hatch back up behind her. Brill turned away, her hand resting on the gun on her hip as she glanced around, this was the lower wards, it wasn’t uncommon to run into a thief or someone who thought they could take on the world, which is probably what led to the incident right now.

Brill unclipped the pistol from her hip and made her way down a dark corridor, she wasn’t even sure if she was going the right way until she started to hear the sound of distant voices yelling at each other. Definitely going the right way. The arguing only got louder as Brill quickly started a brisk run until she emerged into a large open area. It was like the market of the lower wards where you can see the entirety of the inside of the station from the balcony as well as buy cheaply priced food. Most of the time it was filled with starving people begging for money, this time it was filled with angry yelling people separated only by a small gap that separated the civilians from the merc groups. The merc groups were all armored, giving them the upper hand, yet they had left their weapons at home and the civilians were armed with litter and empty bottles. 

It was hectic to say the least, one small move and the gap could be closed from either side and a large riot would ensue. Both sides were screaming profanities at each other and occasionally a empty bottle was thrown at someone’s feet, but so far no one was throwing punches. Yet.

“Brill!” Brill turned, hearing her name as she caught eye of three turians hanging off to the side, all of them had assault rifles but they had yet to intervene. If they did, who knew what would happen. Brill took her chance and jogged away from the screaming crowds towards them as they hid in the shadows, if any of the parties saw them armed they would most likely break into all out fists and feet. 

As Brill got closer she quickly recognized the turian that called her name, Dax. He was usually out doing patrols, he was probably the one who ran into this huge mess. “What do we got, Dax?” Brill asked, at the question, Dax clicked his mandibles and rolled his eyes.

“Typical. Mercenary standing around got shouldered into by a civilian, their entitlement led to some yelling. Eventually everyone started in on it, this is the result. Spirits, it was some drunkard bumping into a Blue Sun that led to this. Vyerios and Parim were able to get them separated but its only a matter of time before things get violent.” Dax explained, motioning to the other two turians behind him.

Brill glanced back behind her at the commotion; he wasn’t wrong about that. What could they do to try and diffuse everything? Majorly, people were just arguing, it could lead to violence but did anyone in the crowds want to get killed? Brill chewed on her bottom lip as she mulled over the situation, what would Nyreen do? Probably try to reason with them all, but Nyreen just had that affect on people, she could talk them down, but she wasn’t here. Brill was sent here for a reason… Nyreen believed she could handle it. A thought occurred to Brill that made her eyes widen as she looked at the crowds. 

What would Aria do?

Brill tightened her grip on her pistol and held it up, ready, she glanced over her shoulder at Dax and the others. “Follow my lead, cover the mercs.” She ordered, the voice that came from her surprised her, it was dark and threatening almost, it made Dax and the others stand at attention instantly. Maybe Amvius was right. Without explaining the plan, Brill walked out into the middle between the group of screaming people, going completely unnoticed until she held the gun high above her head and fired.

The deafening shot of the gun brought everyone’s attention around, all of their eyes suddenly on this intruder, a human no less. All of them were still angry, although Brill did catch their attention. Brill instantly turned, pointing her gun at the group of civilians, the mercs behind her. A quick hush went across the group, some of them ducking away from the barrel of Brill’s gun as they watched her. Dax and the others quickly followed suit, Vyerios and Parim stood behind Brill, their guns trained on the mercs to keep them at bay while Dax stood beside Brill, his assault rifle also poised at the civilians.

“This is the part where you all calm the fuck down before you all do something really stupid.” Brill shouted, she scanned the barrel of her gun through the group of people, they obviously got the point as they all went to their knees. So she was right about one thing, they wanted to argue but not get killed. Brill glanced behind her at the mercs, even though she was facing the others, she wanted them to get the message that everyone should stop being stupid. “Don’t try to act all smart and righteous. Everyone made some dick moves today. You’d be wise to scamper home before I make you.” Some of the mercs glanced at each other as they weighed their options, but that was quickly ended when Vyerios offered them a stare down with his assault rifle. The mercs began to back off, their feet shuffling back against the ground as they began to leave the market. 

Brill brought her attention back up front, finally lowering her pistol, but Dax made sure to keep his rifle up. “That means you too, think better of your actions and next time, pick a fight with someone your own size.” Brill stated, some of the civilians getting to their feet, realizing the danger had passed. Everyone began to disperse, the hostility having vanished and being replaced with fear of getting shot. It was certainly one way to get everything handled. 

As the groups dispersed, Brill turned towards Dax and the others, sighing with relief as they also lowered their guns. “That was easier than I thought it would be.” Brill glanced towards the leaving mercs, chewing her bottom lip as she nudged her head towards them. “Make sure they leave the area completely before we leave. They could come back to pick a fight.” Vyerios and Parim nodded and steadily followed the mercs out. 

Dax stayed beside Brill, his gun lowered as he glanced at her. “That was… rather impressive. How did you know they’d back down?” He asked.

Brill shrugged, glancing at Dax with a grin. “I didn’t. I made a guess, seeing as how they hadn’t resorted to violence yet, I was hoping that the possibility of someone dying was where they drew the line. Turns out I was right.” She answered.

Dax chuckled, scratching at his mandible with his talons as he watched the mercs leave. “When the boss told me you were coming, I was a bit skeptical. She said you could diffuse it, I didn’t imagine that you would do it with such….”

“Stupidity?” Brill added.

“Bravado. You handled it better than I would have. Would have taken me awhile to figure out a solution. You figured it out in 10 seconds, maybe less.” 

“You flatter me.” Brill rolled her eyes, it wasn’t really a plan it was just a ditch effort to diffuse the situation that could have possibly ended up in a lot of people dying, she was lucky that no one did. 

Dax nodded, glancing around the area, pretty much everyone had cleared out now. “Seems good, we can take things from here. Make sure no one wants to start something again. Make sure you tell the boss that you did a good job.”

Brill rolled her eyes again, walking behind Dax to reach the hatch again. “What you consider a good job at least. You know who to call if something goes awry again. Not me.” She answered, making Dax chuckle again. The corridor to the access hatch was really dark, the lights inside having blown out long ago, and yet to be replaced. Still, Brill maneuvered her way down the corridor, clipping her gun to its clip. It was messy, but maybe Dax was right… it was a good job.

Something smashed into her right side, sending Brill to the wall left of her, the collision knocking the air from her lungs as she slid down the wall to the ground. Pain shot up her side, that was definitely bruised, but what the fuck hit her? It was too dark to see. Something grabbed her leg and began to drag her along the floor, Brill’s eyes widened as she felt… someone, drag her. Her other leg free, Brill kicked out colliding with whoever it was, their arm at least, it was hard enough to elicit a scream from her assailant as well as free her leg from them. A vorcha, there was no mistaking that’s what it was from the scream of pain. A vorcha was attacking her… vorchas were known to be part of the Blood Pack.

Brill’s side screamed in pain as she flopped onto her stomach and quickly crawled herself away, her eyes were no where near adjusted enough to see who was attacking her and put up a good enough offensive. If she tried attacking them, she’d end up damaging the walls around her and possibly injuring herself than save herself. She could be lucky and injured the vorcha enough to get away, that was quickly thrown out the window as she felt both of her legs grabbed from behind. Brill reached out, instantly latching onto something with her hand before the Vorcha could start dragging her again, she held on tight and the vorcha expressed his aggravation with another screech before finally dropping Brill’s legs. Free again, Brill used her grip on the object to pull herself forward. 

“You die now.” Why did vorcha’s always have to sound so creepy? He certainly didn’t kill her, but the sharp pain that shot up Brill’s leg told her that he just stabbed her in the thigh with a knife. 

Brill screamed, kicking out at the vorcha before he could pull the knife out of her thigh and stab at her again. Her foot made contact, knocking the vorcha to the ground with a loud thud. Vorchas were nasty bastards, with enough of a blood lust that it was hard to take one down, they would fight to the death if you let them, killing him wasn’t on Brill’s list. She wasn’t too far from the market, if she was lucky, Dax and the others were still there. “DAX!!” Brill screamed, the vorcha was already back on his feet, clawing at her. Brill grabbed hold of his wrists, holding him off, she was pressed to the floor on her side, her stabbed thigh oh so graciously pinned beneath her good leg as well as the vorcha. She could feel the blood beneath her soaking her pant leg. “DAX!” Brill shouted again, the pain was unbearable but she still kept the vorcha at bay, holding off his attacks by keeping a firm grip on his wrists. He needed to get off her though, otherwise she’d be screwed. 

Brill flung her head up, smashing her forehead into the vorcha’s face, she felt blood gush out, probably from the result of her breaking some teeth. His struggles lessened, just enough for Brill to let go of one of his wrists and smash her elbow into the side of his head, knocking him off her and roll to the side. Brill flopped back onto her stomach and quickly tucked her good leg beneath her, using the wall as a support to get awkwardly back up to her feet. She couldn’t limp away, but it could give her an advantage rather than lay on the ground.

That didn’t last long, Brill fell forward as the vorcha ripped the knife from her thigh, the pain making her fall back to the ground on her face. The vorcha was up now, Brill flopped herself onto her back, she could catch the knife before it stabbed her, she could still stop him. It was so dark, the vorcha had way better night vision than her, he could stab her right in the head or in the heart now that he was on his legs. Brill’s arms fell to her sides, where was Dax, she wasn’t that far… how could he not hear her? Had they left already, she closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the vorcha to finally end it all with the bloody knife.

Cold metal touched her fingertips, next to her hip, Brill’s eyes shot open and in a split second the gun was in her hand.

BANG!

It was eerily silent, save for Brill’s spastic heavy breathing as she waited for what was next, did she get him? She felt his body shift above her, falling to the side until the loud thud of a body and the clang of the knife hitting the metal floor told her he was, in fact, dead. 

“BRILL!” The thudding of footsteps echoed down the corridor, the gun shot had caught Dax’s attention, and he had come running to the source. The click of Dax’s light on his gun blinded her for a minute, Brill lifted her hand above her head to shield herself from the bright light. “Spirits… what happened?” Dax kicked aside the dead body, kneeling beside Brill. 

With the light, Brill was finally able to see the vorcha fully, she was right, of course she was. What other reason would there be for someone to spontaneously attack her? The vorcha was unmistakably dressed in the garb that the Blood Pack typically wore, they had sent someone to try and kill her. Instead of being killed… she had killed their assassin. 

Dax kicked the body, rolling the vorcha over to get a better look, a clean shot right through its head, how she did it when she couldn’t see… she had no idea. “Blood pack. Must have been in the crowd and hid out in here, but why would he attack you?” Apparently Kandros didn’t tell anyone about Brill’s previous employer. Dax turned his attention back to Brill, sliding his hand behind her to help her sit up. “Lets get you back and patched up, that’s a nasty knife wound.”

Brill glanced down at her thigh, she had almost forgotten that he stabbed her with a knife, the pain was distant. Still, she accepted Dax’s help back to her feet, leaning on him for support as she stood up on her one good leg. As soon as she was up, Dax left her against the wall momentarily while he picked his rifle back up and they both hobbled back down the corridor. Brill stopped suddenly, bracing her hand against the wall, her eyes closed shut as she suddenly felt a wave of nausea hit her. Why did she feel so sick? 

Brill glanced up at the walls around her, with the light from Dax’s gun, she could see the brain from the vorcha splattered across the corridor. His brains… the brains of the person she killed. “What is it?” Dax asked, he didn’t know. Not many people did. Dax followed Brill’s sight, looking at the walls with her, it didn’t take long for him to realize. “Spirits… that was your first kill?”

The word finally made Brill lose her breakfast on the floor, Dax had enough to time to anticipate it and stepped aside to let her throw up without getting any of it on himself. Her stomach felt like a hollow chasm, the pain of the emptiness was unbearable and making her dizzy. She could barely recognize the fact that her hand was pressed against the wall where there were chunks of brain and blood, she looked up just enough to see Vyerios and Parim at the end of the corridor coming towards her and Dax. The approaching lights shining from their rifles was the last thing Brill saw before she finally passed out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I’ll handle it. I will deal with them.” 

Kandros, her voice was unmistakable. Where was she? Was she back at HQ?

“Will her leg heal?”

“With time.” Some salarian, they were usually always the doctor types. “She heals well.” That probably has a little bit to do with her natural biotic abilities. Eezo radiation and what not. 

“They’ll regret messing with the Talons.”

They? Who else could they be? The vorcha that tried to kill her was part of the Blood Pack. Wait… the vorcha. The sights of the brain splattered walls made Brill’s stomach do another flip. She didn’t even give herself a second to wake up before she flung herself to the side of the bed to vomit onto the floor. She was on a bed, a dingy little hospital bed. From the smell of the place, mixed with her own vomit, it was a run down clinic, like the one that was in the wards before when there was a turian disease. Run down, but surprisingly fairly clean even with the splatter of vomit on the floor. How did she even have anything else left to vomit?

A hand on Brill’s back made her pull back from leaning over the side of the bed and swat the hand away, it was Nyreen, standing beside her bed. She didn’t look hurt by Brill’s backlash, probably expected it. Brill diverted her gaze from Nyreen as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and glanced at the rather nervous salarian standing at the foot of the bed. It was an old looking clinic, the room she was in small and unoccupied by any other patients, granted she was laying on the only bed. There was a bunch of medical equipment, one of which was against the wall behind the salarian that looked like some sort of laser, no doubt what healed her leg.

“We were able to track down where the vorcha that attacked you came from.” Nyreen started, Brill groaned and closed her eyes. Wasn’t it obvious?

“No shit. Its kinda obvious he was dressed as a Blood Pack.” Brill started, her voice was venomous, but she didn’t care at this point, she already killed someone. 

“Brill, you know if I had anticipated the Blood Pack’s want for revenge, I would have never sent you to the wards alone.” She knew that, of course she knew that. Nyreen had promised her in the beginning that she wouldn’t be put in a position where she would kill someone. Neither of them saw this coming, Brill figured the Blood Pack would be pissed at her disappearance, but not this pissed. Even with that in mind, she didn’t want Nyreen babying her like this, making excuses.

“I fucking killed that vorcha, Nyreen.” Brill spat back, like an emphasis of what she did would make Nyreen understand what happened.

Nyreen pressed forward, her hands on the bed as she leaned towards Brill to get her full attention. “You defended yourself. Like we taught you to, like Torin taught you to when he gave you that gun. If you hadn’t killed him you would be dead.”

“Does that make it right?” Brill shouted, her anger making Nyreen lean back out of Brill’s space. “Torin taught me to shoot to disarm. I didn’t. I shot him square in the fucking head, I blew out his brains all over the..” the sudden reminder made Brill’s hand fly to her mouth to avoid another spout of vomit, but nothing came her stomach was an empty chasm of regret now. There was no way she could ever lose that to the floor. 

“You couldn’t see, it was dark. You did the only think you could reasonably do, and protected yourself. If you did anything today, you told the Blood Pack that you aren’t some pushover that they own. They sent someone to kill you, and instead you killed him.” Nyreen always had a more charismatic approach, but even with her charisma, Brill knew she was right. The Blood Pack saw her as a worm to be controlled, so when she disobeyed they sent someone to kill her. Amvius was right on the idea that Brill was a different person than she was living on the streets under the Pack’s boot. Even if Brill could see through the dark, she probably would have killed the vorcha anyways, kneecapping him would have never stopped a vorcha, just made him more angry. 

Brill glanced down at her leg, her hand hovering over the bare thigh encased in a medigel cast. It was bulky as hell but it felt good with the cool gel steadily healing her wound. The laser had sealed the cut, stitching it closed, but it had left a rather disgusting jagged red scar. The medigel would heal the wound but the scar would still be there, ugly and disfigured but it would serve as a reminder that even the Pack can’t take her down. Scars could be attractive anyways. Brill sighed, sliding her hand away from the medigel cast to rest on her chest as she slowly let herself rest back onto the bed once more. 

“Once I’m healed… once I’m moving again…” Brill started, not sure how to find the words.

“You’re leaving.” Nyreen finished, nodding, it was as if she knew that was going to be Brill’s decision. Of course it was, she didn’t want to kill and even though it was Nyreen’s fault entirely that Brill ended up killing someone, it was probably still for the best. “I understand. At least, when you are better, before you leave; let Amvius get you an omni-tool.”

Brill nodded, she wanted to say more but she wasn’t sure of what to say. She still owed Nyreen for being taken in by the Talons, for giving her a home, but maybe that was meant to be repaid at another time, a different way. “I will.”

Nyreen nodded, glancing at the salarian doctor as she turned from the bed. “Keep an eye on her.” She said, leaving the bed as she headed for the exit, as the doors hissed open she glanced behind her once more at Brill lying on the bed. “Don’t make me catch you in trouble again.”

Brill couldn’t help but grin, no, stealing from Aria or anyone else was the last thing she wanted to do, especially if it meant another pep talk from Nyreen about how that’s wrong and she could get killed. Nyreen left, the door hissing behind her and leaving Brill and the salarian alone in the room. Brill sighed, waving the doctor away, he quickly left the room eventually leaving Brill alone to her thoughts. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do without the Talons, other than steal. Although, Amvius had a point when he said ‘Once A Talon, Always A Talon’, if she needed it they would help her get on her own two feet. There were certainly other things she could do that required sneaking around other than stealing, she just had to find it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still not sure how the ending is gonna go but I like how things are going so far. The length of the chapters is something I'm very happy with. I think the chapters need to be a lot longer compared to my other works. TQ has more in depth things with Brill that just need the longer chapters. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning?:** This chapter contains explicit scenes of sex.

Information.

Why had she never considered it as a possible career choice before? She was starving before, that’s why. Of course, back then she didn’t have any information worthwhile. Even when she did get it, it hadn’t crossed her mind to use it to her advantage and essentially screw over the Blood Pack. Fuck them for trying to get her killed. Though what exactly to do had been up in the air for a few weeks until she finally figured out a good way to really screw them over.

Brill leaned against a sky taxi, her legs folded over one another as she relaxed her back on the hull of the car. She had taken it to get here but she was still torn on whether or not she should just leave in it again. Afterlife lay in front of her, the usual line of people outside the club was still a steady halt as the bouncer Krogan continued to refuse entry. If she tried to go in, there was always a chance the bouncer would say no, she didn’t have a package of credits to get herself inside this time around. Brill glanced at the line of aggravated people, not to mention most of them were human, they were hardly ever allowed inside. 

Granted, Brill didn’t look like a little kid anymore, her hair had grown _just_ enough to tie in the back. It wasn’t much, just a tiny pig tail that kept her hair off her neck, which was helpful considering how hot the station got sometimes. Her bangs however, were too short to reach behind her head so they hung loosely over forehead, an occasional strand covering her eyes, it wasn’t too bad. She rather liked it when her bangs covered her eyes, it made her look mysterious and possibly threatening. At that sudden though, Brill chuckled; like she was threatening at all, she didn’t even have a gun to threaten anyone with. What she did have was her biotics, the Talons had taught her well on how to control them as well as improve them, with time she found she was fairly formidable with her biotics as well as deadly.

It had been a few days since Brill had officially recovered and left the Talons; just like she had told Nyreen she would. It had been difficult starting out, trying to find something to do in order to maintain a standard of ‘living’ rather than just stealing again. Stealing after all, led her into a situation where she joined a group of mercenaries, almost got killed, as well as shot out the brains of a vorcha intended on killing her. Since her leaving, the Pack hadn’t tried another attempt on her life or at least as far as she could tell they hadn’t. From what she recalled Nyreen saying in the clinic, she probably saw to it they would never touch a hair on Brill’s head. Brill chuckled, unless she decided to shave it all off again. Doubtful because of how happy she was with it right now.

Now wasn’t the time to fiddle on whether or not she should at least try and enter Afterlife, it was now or never after all. She got in once before by playing it smart, granted she wasn’t very smart to begin with because she had previously _stolen_ from Aria. It was time to attempt the unthinkable; try and talk to Aria T’loak… and tell her all of that. Maybe she was crazy.

Brill shook her head clear and pushed herself off the car and began to her long yet short stride towards the door to Afterlife, her goal was to ignore the bouncer completely, and pray he didn’t even notice her waltz in. Too soon.

”Hey you!” Brill froze and glanced towards the Krogan bouncer, she certainly couldn’t take him on… well that was debatable. “No one goes in without my say so.”

”Yeah! Back of the line bub!” One of the humans in lie protested, like the line was going to secure her any chance of getting in regardless. Half the people in lie had probably been standing there for a good couple of hours, hell some of them looked familiar from the last time she came to Afterlife.

Brill chewed the inside of her lip as she thought of a plan, but she took a step back from the entrance to let the bouncer know she wasn’t going to try anything. “How many credits would it take for me to get inside exactly? If there was such a possibility?” The look that followed clearly answered Brill’s question with a simple ‘no fucking way’, it didn’t hurt to ask. “Okay… what if I had great information for the Queen of Omega that she would be interested in?”

”So does probably half of this line.” The bouncer said, gesturing towards the impatient people. Touché.

”Alright…” Brill proceeded to chew on her bottom lip as she sized up the Krogan, they were bulky and were great when it came to sprinting or just general charging. “Next question.” The Krogan raised is eyebrow curiously at Brill, as did the people in line. “How fast can you run?” She bolted, sprinting up the stairs and into Afterlife before the Krogan could even react and follow her. Luckily, Brill was a fast runner, and especially faster than a heavy Krogan.

Brill was sprinting down the small hall to the actual entrance of Afterlife, ignoring the patrons who rested on the couches on either side, glancing back only momentarily to see the Krogan trying desperately to catch up with her. As soon as Brill reached the door she kicked it, to spur it to life and to fucking open faster before a mad Krogan beat the shit out of her. The door hissed open slowly, as soon as there was enough room, Brill shimmed through the door and bolted towards the bar in the center. Patrons in the entire club trained their eyes on the running dark skinned human and soon panned over to the pursuing Krogan bouncer, all of them coming to the same conclusion. 

Brill hurried her way around the bar towards Aria’s overlook the guard on the first landing of the stairs recognizing the situation and raising his rifle. Before he could pop a few shots at Brill she tossed her hand up, the purple tendrils of her biotics sparking from her fingers and flying out from her palm to slam the guard into the wall behind him, the blow knocking his gun from his hands. One guard down, Brill took the steps in stride as she made her way up to Aria’s overlook, the commotion instantly hitting the rest of the guards as the scrambled to meet Brill at the top of the next landing. She was so close to the Queen. Brill jumped the remaining stairs and side stepped, aiming to go around the two guards that blocked her path, they quickly moved to intercept her but it was too late. Brill’s biotic jump ended just right behind the guards as she quickly turned on her heel and ran up the last remaining steps to Aria’s couch, her destination.

Brill’s feet landed on the last step and she nearly raised her arms in the air in success from her accomplishment, although her rejoice was short lived. A force of what felt like a couple bricks smashed into her chest and Brill instantly fell flat on to her back, her body crumpling down the stairs from the biotic push the Queen of Omega had just thrown at her. The guards that had tried to intercept her quickly rushed to her and grabbed her arms, the slam had knocked the air from Brill’s lungs, leaving her helpless to the guards as they flung her onto her stomach and began to pin her arms behind her back.

Shit. Shit. Shit. There was a reason she was there wasn’t there? Quickly, her mangled brain fumbled for the words that would secure an escape or at least a chance to talk with the Queen. “WAIT!” Brill took a quick breath, filling her lungs with air that the Queen had so gracefully removed from her lungs. “I have something the Queen needs to know!” Her words were gone unheard as she felt omni-cuffs latch themselves to her wrists. Cuffs now, possible death later, no one fucked with Aria after all. “I HAVE INFORMATION REGARDING A MERCENARY GROUP STEALING FROM ARIA T’LOAK!” Brill shouted with more bravado, this had to get Aria’s attention, she closed her eyes praying that it actually spiked the Queen’s interests.

The guards continued, hoisting Brill up by their arms and dragging her towards the stairs, shit! Was it really all for nothing? She needed to think up better plans. “Wait.” The voice from the powerful asari made Brill breathe a deep sigh in relief as the guards suddenly halted their movement and turned back around with Brill in their arms. 

Now facing the Queen, Brill got a good look at her once more. Aria sat on her couch, her legs folded over one another, her arms resting on the back of the couch on either side of her. Despite the rude interruption, she seemed the slightest bit of interested in what Brill had to say. It was more than nothing. The guards held her securely but dragged Brill closer to Aria to allow her to speak. Aria relaxed back into her couch, turning her head away from Brill, feigning disinterest. “5 minutes.”

The guards released Brill, letting her fall to the floor, but she quickly caught herself with her freed hands. She quickly glanced up at the Queen, remaining on her hands and knees as she looked at the asari, she liked to feel in control and be the boss. Give her that feel, Brill decided, remaining where she was on the floor rather than standing to speak properly. “The Blood Pack stole from your personal supply of Eezo.”

The statement made all the guards turn towards Brill, rather stunned by her accusation. Someone steal from Aria? No one on the station had that audacity, of course krogans had at least 4 testicles so they certainly had the balls for it. Even Aria’s batarian that always stood beside her looked rather jaded at the remark. Brill could make out Aria’s forehead crinkle, only slightly but it was enough to tell Brill the asari was interested and clearly not convinced. Aria only supported Brill’s assumption as she turned her attention back to the human. “How would you know this?”

The question Brill was waiting for. “They hired me to steal from you.” It was proof enough to put the Blood Pack in jeopardy, and something they never thought Brill would have the guts enough to do… Tell on them. After the attempt on her life, she was sure as hell gutsy enough to tell on them to the Queen of Omega. “They tried to have me killed after I refused to provide them with more stolen goods.”

Aria shot to her feet, clearly furious at this betrayal from the Pack. “Bastards think they can sneak around my supply and get away with it?!” Brill stayed silent as Aria silently fumed, glancing towards her batarian counterpart rather furiously. “Get Gryll’s ass down here so I can flay it.” She commanded. Bray quickly nodded, opening his omni-tool to do just that. Seeing as how the matter was being dealt with, the guards proceeded to scoop Brill up once more, her eyes growing wide as it suddenly hit her that they could still potentially kill her. Telling Aria what the Pack had been up to wasn’t enough to secure her survival, she was still the thief who ultimately stole from Aria. Brill felt herself being dragged away, silently cursing herself and figuring out another means of escape, she had her biotics she could still use that. “Stop.” The guards stopped, glancing towards Aria as she angrily took her seat back on the couch, only now tenderly rubbing her temple at the headache the Pack was now giving her. “I still have a few words for our little ‘informant’.” The guards dragged Brill back to her place in front of Aria and let her go, Brill falling to her hands once more. “You can go fuck off now.” Aria waved at the guards, they nodded and both went back to their posts, leaving Brill on the floor in front of the Queen of Omega.

Brill remained staring at the floor, trying to toss around the possible endings to various scenarios on what could possibly happen now. The odds were not in her favor now. Aria neatly folded her leg over the other and lowered her hand from its menstruations on her temple, her headache having subsided. “You have some nerve, coming here and calling the Blood Pack out.”

Nerve wasn’t quite the word Brill would choose, maybe just clear insanity was more her style. “I didn’t really appreciate the assassin they sent to try silence me.” Brill said, she kept her eyes on the floor as she spoke, but her words resulted in a chuckle from the Queen.

”How did you get your hands on my goods?” Aria asked.

Brill bit her lip as she quieted what she really wanted to voice out loud. _Phrasing_ Brill thought. “I have my ways.” She answered, best to keep the part about the tunnels out. “I blend into dark corners rather well. Hard to spot dark things in a dark area.” Brill explained, it was simple as that, her dark skin led to easily slipping in and out of places. “They only requested enough to suffice and little enough to go unnoticed.” She continued, biting her lip. “They didn’t pay well.”

”Of course.” Aria scoffed, probably more furious to the fact that her eezo was being sold so cheaply. There was a long silence, Brill kept her head down, unsure of what to say; seeing as how the guards had been dismissed there was a good chance she could get out of this. Still, the question remained.

”I’m going to get killed for this… aren’t I?” Brill asked, finally raising her head to look at the Queen of Omega, the asari’s eyes darkening as she looked at Brill’s expression. Brill kept her gaze rather than flinch beneath the Queen’s threatening eyes, unlike last time, the asari didn’t frighten her.

Aria grinned, the small smirk making Brill blink in surprise. “No. Its no doubt the Pack coerced you into stealing from me. You were paid poorly, meaning you didn’t have a choice in the matter.” Coerced maybe, not in the very beginning when Brill had brought a case of eezo to sell to them, after that they had forced her to continue, but Aria didn’t need to know the exact details. “Still… no one fucks with me on my station.” Brill bit her bottom lip, something bad was still going to happen to her. “You have to learn a lesson.”

Learning a lesson certainly didn’t sound too bad. _THUD_ , something hard hit the back of her head and Brill found the scenes of Afterlife quickly turn into a black blur as she tipped forward, her face hitting the steps as the whole club went black and suddenly… there was nothing.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

How long was she out?

Brill slowly sat up, the throbbing pain at the back of her head making her keep her eyes shut as she gently reached behind her head to touch the tender spot. Why exactly did they have to hit her so hard? Well… she was going to be punished right? Brill’s eyes suddenly flew open as she recalled Aria’s words, her head whipped around, scanning her new surroundings. Her frantic behavior quickly subsided as she slowly began to realize she was in a… rather nice looking apartment. She sat on the floor of a quaint little living area, a TV against the wall to her left and a large couch situated to the right of her. She was situated comfortably between a small coffee table and the couch in the center of the living area. Brill sat up a little more, resting her arm on the seat of the couch as she glanced behind her, still gathering in the bizarre surroundings. Considering how it was a nice apartment in _Omega_ was what she found more bizarre than anything else. 

Brill got up, slowly lifting herself up to her feet with the help of the couch next to her. So, Aria’s men knocked her out, and dragged here, but for what purpose? Having a better vantage point while standing, Brill took in the rest of the apartment, there was a small kitchen area just behind the couch, a countertop where there was a wide selection of liquor and wine bottles. Good selection of drinks from the looks of it. Brill scurried her way around the couch towards the counter, continuing to rub the back of her head as she scanned the selection. If she had a concussion, it probably wasn’t best to drink but whatever was planned for her might be better off with something to dull the pain. Brill spotted a glass and a bottle of wine, she took one last glance around the apartment, seeing no one was around, she grabbed the bottle of wine and filled the glass half way. Her head was still throbbing, hopefully the wine would work as a good enough pain reliever. 

Brill slowly finished off the glass of wine before returning to its place on the counter. Maybe it was worth it to find the bathroom and clean herself of some dirt, since it had been awhile since she had used one. Brill left the kitchen and wondered back into the living area, the door that was obviously the entrance was off to the side, the omni-display on the door shining a bright red that served as a reminder that something bad was eventually going to happen to her. They locked her inside this apartment, granted it was comfortable, Brill still wasn’t relaxed enough to believe the danger was over yet. 

Brill turned away from the entrance, wondering aimlessly for a moment until a door suddenly hissed open, it made Brill jump but quickly relaxed as she recognized the bedroom door. It was situated next to the kitchen area, reasonable placement. The bathroom was probably in there as well. Brill followed her instincts and inched her way into the bedroom, checking her corners as she entered, the bed was freshly made… or never slept on, queen size and its comforter and fluffy pillows were rather inviting. Maybe this place was sprayed with some sort of toxin that was intended on seducing her, or the air in the apartment was slowly being poisoned. So many ways of killing her. Brill shrugged it off and explored the rest of the bedroom.

There was a closet on the far side of the bedroom, to the right of the bed as well as two bedside stands; comfortable, quaint, still confusing as hell. On the wall adjacent to the door were shelves containing extra sheets, pillows, as well as towels. The bathroom door was probably nearby. Brill followed the wall until the door to the bathroom hissed open in response to her presence. Right on cue.

Brill examined the bathroom, making sure it was safe before she stepped inside. It was rather expansive, with a large walk in shower and a rather extravagant sink. The bathroom was… nice, another oddity when it came to Omega. You almost never find a nice looking bathroom on Omega. Just where the hell was she? Brill stepped back out quickly, grabbing a towel from the shelf before making her way to the sink and lifting the handle to turn on the water. Hot water came out almost instantly. Brill set the towel down on the toilet seat, cupping her hands together as she scooped up the hot water and gently splashed it on her face. 

The feel of the warm water against her face made Brill smile, it was relaxing, the prickle of the heat against her skin. The water was very hot, maybe a little too hot but Brill ignored any pain as she continued to splash a bit more against her face. She turned off the water with her elbow and grabbed the towel, drying her face off with the towel. Despite what was probably in store for her, Brill felt rather good, a nice glass of wine and the splash of hot water made her feel warm. Hopefully that wasn’t just the wine. Brill turned away from the sink and hung the towel on a hook on the wall across from the sink. Maybe another glass of wine would help soften the blow for… whatever was in store.

Brill left the bathroom as well as the bedroom, making her way back to the island in the kitchen. She grabbed her old glass and poured herself another drink, sipping at the glass as she set the bottle back onto the counter. How long did she have to wait before she finally found out what the hell was going to happen to her? Granted, with where she was and the fact that there was wine for her to freely drink gave her the idea that maybe… it wasn’t going to be that bad. Although there was always a possibility that she _wasn’t_ suppose to touch the wine.

Brill lowered the glass from her lips and glanced inside at its contents. “Well, shit.”

The door behind her hissed open, the sound of the door made Brill’s grip on the glass slip. As the door hissed closed, the glass shattered on the floor beneath her. _Fuck, fuck._ Brill slowly turned around to see who was at the door, her executor no doubt.

A thought had never actually crossed her mind as to who owned such a fancy apartment. In Omega… a nice looking apartment with a large bed and fine wines. How could she not have anticipated it? It never even crossed her mind. She never connected the dots. Who else on the entire station, would live inside such an apartment, the only apartment of its kind on Omega?

Aria T’loak, the Queen of Omega.

”You’re paying for that.” Brill glanced down at her feet at the shattered wine glass, silently cursing herself for dropping it. Granted, the fact that Aria was in the apartment was a bit of a shocker. Brill frantically bent down, trying hard to scoop up the shards of glass without cutting herself, but she was quickly halted by Aria with a simple “Just leave it.” Brill stood back up, raising her hands up in the air as she let the glass be, even taking a step back away from her mess.

At first, Brill was plagued by why the hell Aria’s men would bring her to such a fancy apartment. Now her mind was plagued by WHY THE FUCK WAS SHE IN ARIA T’LOAK’S APARTMENT? Brill glanced at the door, the red display showing that she was now locked inside this fancy apartment with the queen herself. Of all the fucking luck. She glanced away from the door, taking a hard swallow as her eyes focused on Aria T’loak approaching her. It took a lot of willpower for Brill to keep her eyes on Aria’s face rather than her swaying hips, why did all asari have to move like that? It probably helped distract their enemies before they went in for the kill, and in this scenario, Brill was going to die.

Brill kept her arms raised, not over her head, but enough to show she was unarmed. Aria stopped just at the end of the couch, both of them studying each other. There was a long silence that made Brill want to scream, why the fuck was she even here? Why on earth would Aria have her guards take Brill to her own apartment? 

_Wait…. ___

__  
_ _

Another scenario suddenly dawned on her, but Brill kept her face expressionless rather than smile at the slight possibility that the scenario was true. “Is this the part where you torture me?” Brill asked, the question raising Aria’s interests.

”Why the hell would I torture you?” Scratch that, Aria wasn’t interested, she just thought Brill was stupid.

Brill shrugged. “Answers? I don’t know. I recall something about a punishment before your guards knocked me out. My assumption is that something cruel is going to happen to me now.” She explained, although the idea of something cruel happening was fading with each passing second.

Aria rolled her eyes, turning around and rounding around the couch. Of course, Aria wanted to sit on the couch, did she have a thing for couches or just crossing her legs? Brill followed her, standing in front of Aria so they could keep talking, even if they were talking about nothing remotely interesting or important. Aria took her seat on the couch, folding her legs over one another, of course. “Sit.”

Brill glanced at the other couch adjacent to Aria’s, although the invitation to sit was rather inviting. “I’d rather stand, thanks.” Brill’s response made Aria flinch, watching the asari’s reaction almost made Brill grin, she obviously wasn’t use to someone saying no. Brill stayed standing, folding her arms across her chest as she stood above Aria, she rather liked this vantage point above the asari. 

”You must be suicidal to tell on the Blood Pack. What’s your name?” Aria said, finally she was getting to what she really wanted to say.

”Brill, and if that’s suicidal, what exactly was me bursting into Afterlife, outrunning your bouncer, and side stepping around your guards?” Brill asked, her answer rather pleased Aria, a smirk making its way to her lips. “The Pack already tried their hand on killing me to keep me silent, I figured a little payback was in order. Looks like you dealt with them?”

”The Blood Pack got what was coming to them for stealing from me. Everyone learns their lesson if they don’t follow the rules. If they forget, they’re reminded.” Aria started, her head turned away, feigning disinterest for the human in front of her.

”Right. What’s the first rule? Don’t fuck with Aria?”

Aria turned her head back to Brill. “It’s the only rule.” She replied harshly.

”So you taught the Pack a lesson. I’m assuming its my turn to learn a lesson for not to steal from you. Are you going to do it like you did with the Talons? Ask for a portion of my profits? Because, I’m sorry to tell you, I have no money coming in.” Brill started, what she said made Aria’s eyes widen in surprise.

”How the fuck do you know about that?” Aria demanded.

Of course… she didn’t remember. “Who doesn’t know about the Talons fucking with you? Everyone remembers Derius as a complete ass hat, and you owning the shit out of his men. You demoralized him so much you ended up making him cough up a large portion of his red sand operations.” Brill started, shrugging her shoulders but keeping her arms folded across her chest. “Although, I figured you wouldn’t remember me.”

”Remember you?” There it was. Aria’s eyes wondered downwards, her eyes recognized Brill as a woman, it was more obvious now because the clothes she wore hugged her body a bit tighter. It took a second before Aria’s eyes jumped back to Brill’s, and the realization set in. “YOU!” Aria jumped to her feet. “You’re the one who delivered for the Talons!”

”You thought I was a man if I recall.” Brill kept her ground, despite how menacing the furious purple asari looked. “I was just delivering for them, I haven’t stolen anything for them. The Blood Pack was the only mercenary group that I did that sort of business with.” Brill waved off the asari’s anger, calmly explaining the situation. “So what is my punishment? I’ve been locked in this apartment for a good half hour so I can’t imagine it being too bad of a punishment, considering the location.” She glanced around the nice looking living room. From this vantage point, she could clearly tell the asari was a bit taller than her, requiring that she look up at Aria to speak directly to her, it was annoying but not a complete inconvenience. 

”You better not have stolen from me for anyone else.” Aria said, her voice sounded harsh and commanding. In this apartment, Aria didn’t seem very commanding at all, compared to sitting on her perch in Afterlife.

”Or what?” Brill asked, her question daring, so much so that Aria’s brow above her left eye twitched awkwardly, clearly taken back. “You tell me you’re going to punish me, and you’re your guards knock me out and bring me… here? To this fancy apartment. Something tells me ‘punishment’ wasn’t exactly what you had planned for me. Unless of course. Are you an Ardat-Yakshi? Are you going to fuck me to death? If that’s the case… I wouldn’t be to opposed to that idea.” 

Aria was becoming livid, breathing heavily, her brows lowering in anger over her eyes as she glared menacingly at Brill. Brill stood her ground however, returning Aria’s glare with a small grin, the grin was enough to crush Aria’s commanding presence that she was trying to keep. “Shut. It.” Aria commanded.

Here was her chance. Brill took a step forward, leaning towards Aria, because she was shorter, Brill had to look up at the asari, but she didn’t mind. “Make. Me.” As cliché as it was, it was a perfect comeback that completely shattered Aria’s resolve, her look of anger melted into one of confusion and bewilderedness, not to mention completely speechless. “I said, make me.” Brill repeated, but Aria remained hushed, her mouth parted slightly as she tried to find words, but there were none. 

”What? Has the great Queen of Omega lost the ability to speak, maybe its the fact that she’s _never_ had anyone stand up against her before? Is that it?” Brill leaned forward, tucking herself right close to Aria, so close their bodies were almost touching, she bent just a little to look up at the asari, a smirk spread across her face. “Not so tough now, with your guards not around huh? Oh how the queen has fallen from her perch. I have some news for you, whatever you had planned for me… its not going to go the way you expected it to.” With that, Brill rested the tips of her fingers on Aria’s chest, just between her breasts and pushed the woman down onto the couch. Aria fell to the couch, bouncing only slightly against the cushions, her mouth parted only slightly, either she was still searching for words or was just stunned. Either way, Brill stepped between Aria’s knees, opening her legs with Brill’s own, situated comfortably, she leaned forward, resting her hand on the back of the couch as she leaned down above Aria, hovering over the asari. This… was certainly, a better vantage point. 

”We’re going to play a little game, you and I.” Brill said, her voice dropping to a low deep whisper that seemed to make Aria shiver, her hands were clutching the couch on either side of her legs. “In this apartment, you are no Queen of Omega, you’re just a lowly asari named Aria. In this apartment, I’m the Queen here, because between the two of us, I’m the one in charge.” Brill’s free hand snaked up from her side and grasped Aria’s chin, it was a forceful grab but she held the asari gently in her hand, turning the Asari’s head to the side ever so slightly, exposing her neck to Brill. “The game can be stopped, however. If at any case, you want it to, just say my name.” Brill stated, leaning back to tilt Aria’s head back towards her, locking eyes with the asari. Blue and brown stared back at each other, just like before only a few days ago when Brill had first met her. Brill could see some hesitation in those eyes, this was a position the asari certainly wasn’t use to. 

Even with the hesitation Brill saw, she needed to make sure Aria understood completely. “Do you understand?” she asked, but the asari’s lips still remained slightly parted. “You can speak.”

”Yes.” Was the shuttered response from Aria. Was she… aroused?

Brill shook away the thoughts, smirking instead. “What’s my name?” she asked.

”Brill.”

Brill nodded. “Good, you remember.” With her hand still on Aria’s chin, Brill reached her thumb up from its place at the tip of Aria’s chin to the woman’s lips, running the bad of her thumb ever so slightly against the woman’s bottom lip. The small gesture made Aria’s breathing hitch in her throat, so she was aroused by her own vulnerability. Time to test the waters of their little game. With one last stroke of her thumb, Brill moved her thumb away, leaving Aria’s lips bare as she bent farther down, she had just enough time to see the asari lick her lips before both their lips met one another.

The kiss was tender, and it was probably driving Aria up the wall, but she held her ground, her grip tightening on the couch to avoid grabbing Brill. Despite Aria’s best efforts, Brill could tell just how desperate the asari was, her hand still grasping Aria’s chin as they kissed. The desperation was even more obvious when Brill finally pulled away and Aria tried her best to follow Brill’s lips before she opened her eyes and realized what she had done. Brill only smiled, letting go of Aria’s chin. “In time.” She replied, standing back up. “Get up.” Brill commanded. 

Aria didn’t hesitate to respond, getting to her feet quickly, with how close they were sitting down, their bodies were now flushed against one another while standing. Even with Aria being just a bit taller than Brill that she had to look up, the game was still played. Brill snaked one arm around Aria’s waist, looking up at Aria with a seductive smirk, the asari was licking her lips again.

”To the bedroom then.” Brill said, satisfying Aria with another kiss, having to grab her chin again to keep the woman steady. Brill deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue against Aria’s lips and parting her mouth open for both of them to explore. Aria certainly knew her place in this situation or she just enjoyed it too much to want to revert to her usual self. Some people are in control for so long that being able to lose that control to someone, to be vulnerable was something they didn’t even know they desired. Amvius was right about something.

Brill quickly broke the kiss, detaching herself from Aria completely and heading for the bedroom, the asari quickly followed behind her. As soon as Brill entered the bedroom, she turned and sat down on the foot of the bed, folding her legs over one another like Aria was known to do. Brill sat back, holding herself up by her elbows as she looked Aria, a corner of her lips curling upwards as Aria slowly entered the bedroom, unsure of what to do. Brill gestured towards the space in front of her. “Undress, slowly, I’d prefer to watch.”

There was something innocent about how Aria slowly took her place in front of Brill and turned to face the human. Innocent to a point that made Aria look like a virgin so to speak, innocent and shy like undressing oneself in front of someone was unnerving. Perhaps that were so, this being way different than what Aria was probably use to. If Aria was afraid, she certainly didn’t show it, her hands were not shaking as unbuckled the three latches across her chest. Brill watched Aria slowly unlatch each buckle, her eyes hooded by her brows as she watched the asari slowly peel off her signature garb. The white jacket hit the ground first, crumpling at the asari’s feet. Her hands went to the remaining leather jump suit, but Brill quickly stood up, holding up her hand to halt Aria’s movements. The asari did just that, and watched the human slowly approach her. 

Brill reached up and grabbed Aria’s hands from their place on the arm straps of her jump suit, holding her hands by their wrists and bringing them down to her sides. Aria’s skin felt hot as she watched Brill’s eyes roam across her bare shoulders. There still wasn’t much to see but Brill’s intensity on just her shoulders was enough to make Aria shiver, something she wish she hadn’t done because Brill had obviously noticed. Brill turned her attention away from Aria’s bare skin, releasing her grip on one of Aria’s wrist to grasp her chin again, gently, tilting the asari’s head to the side, exposing the length of her neck. Brill tilted her head upwards, capturing the skin of Aria’s neck with her lips, the asari moaning in response. It was a soft moan, she had tried to hold it back, knowing that only made Brill smile against the nape of her neck. 

Brill kissed her way down Aria’s neck, freeing both of her hands to slowly pull down Aria’s leather jumpsuit, exposing more of the asari’s skin to the cold of the room. Brill’s hands slid down Aria’s arms, pulling the shoulder straps from the jump suit along with them, all the way down until the shoulder straps came off at Aria’s hands, the top section of the jump suit having come off. Brill gave one last kiss to Aria’s collarbone before she leaned back, observing the purple flushed skin before her. With one hand, Brill cupped on of Aria’s bare breasts and took an erect nipple into her mouth.

There was something to be said when it comes to asari skin, it was different than human skin that much was certain. It felt like scales, but less so, velvety almost but rough at the same time, Brill liked the feel of it beneath her palms. Aria’s entire body was light hue of purple, her nipples just a darker shade from her entire figure. It was a color she could get use to.

The feel of a hand on her bare hip drew Brill away from admiring Aria’s skin. Brill freed herself from Aria’s breast and grabbed Aria’s wrist, pulling the lingering hand away. “I didn’t say you could do that.” Brill barked, grabbing hold of Aria’s other wrist she used her grip to spin both of them, turning Aria to have her back face towards the bed. Brill let go of the woman and raised her hand, the smallest of biotic pushes sending the asari sprawling to the bed on her back. With the asari now on the bed, Brill took advantage of the moment, grabbing Aria’s leather jump suit and pulling it the rest of the way off, taking her shoes as well and leaving the asari naked on the bed. Brill let the jump suit fall from her hands and crumble to the floor at the foot of the bed. 

Aria had quickly recovered and propped herself up by her elbows, watching Brill as the human took a moment to observe her naked body. The look of intensity from Brill’s brown eyes made heat rise to her cheeks as well as farther below to her azure. Brill glanced up at Aria’s face to see her darkened cheeks, a smirk appearing across her lips.

”Blushing? I didn’t take you as that kind of woman, Aria.” Brill joked coyly, she watched the flustered Aria, hands on her hips, that wretched smirk that Aria was now coming to hate still on the human’s lips. Those… wonderfully delicious lips. Brill quickly took off her own vest, tossing it off to the side and quickly grabbing the hem of her shirt, the discarded clothing quickly following behind the vest on the floor. Now it was her turn to stand before Aria with her breasts in full view. Bras weren’t a thing for Brill, especially since she was so small chested. The fact that she didn’t wear a bra, was, evidently, something Aria seemed to appreciate from her expression and the way she once again licked her lips. Did Aria know she did that when she was aroused? 

Brill crawled onto the bed, crawling on top of Aria until she hovered comfortably above the woman, the bare skin of her torso and her breasts just barely skimming Aria’s own. She made sure to tuck a leg between Aria’s, letting her knee barely hover away from the asari’s azure. For once, Brill didn’t have to look up at Aria anymore, their eyes now even with each other with Aria’s back pressed flat against the bed, Brill propping herself up with an arm while her free hand traced a finger across Aria’s bottom lip once more. Their bodies so close and the ghost like touch of their skin against one another, Brill could feel the heat coming from Aria, hear her heavy breathing as well as the pounding in her chest, Aria could probably notice the same from Brill.

”Did you know you licked your lips when you’re aroused?” Brill asked, her eyes hooded by her brows as she kept her gaze on the asari’s purple lips.

Aria frowned, her brows lowering in aggravation. “I’m not…”

Brill pressed her finger against both of Aria’s lips, hushing her. “Oh shut up. You can’t lie to me at this point and say you’re not really turned on right now. Little miss Aria too ashamed to admit she really likes having someone on top of her?” Instead of responding, Aria turned her head away and grumbled. “Thought so.” Brill laughed, she slid her fingers down, grasping Aria’s chin again and steering the woman back to face her. “Don’t worry my little asari, nothing that happens here leaves this room.” She assured her, sealing that with a kiss. 

With the kiss, Brill let herself press against Aria, their naked breasts pressing against one another, emitting a moan from the asari beneath Brill. The kiss was less gentle this time, but Aria was quick to permit Brill’s tongue access, both of their tongues dancing together before Brill pulled away, her teeth lightly catching Aria’s bottom lip as she slowly pulled away. As soon as Aria’s lip popped free from Brill’s teeth, the familiar tongue returned to lick her own lips, the automatic response made Brill grin. 

”I don’t know about you.” Brill started, propping herself up again and sliding her free hand down Aria’s chest to cup a breast, pinching the nipple between her index finger and thumb. “But, I’ve always been curious as to how an asari looks beneath the belt.” Her hand released itself from Aria’s nipple reluctantly and continued its delicate trail down her belly, Aria’s body arching slightly in response as Brill’s finger trailed farther down. As Brill’s finger continued down, she twisted her hand, sliding it between Aria’s legs and sliding Brill’s finger up the entire length of Aria’s wet folds. It was brief, but still enough to earn a shuddering moan from Aria. Brill smiled as she left her hand on Aria’s inner thigh. “Told you.”

”Shut. Up.” Aria mumbled, closing her eyes, her cheeks were still darkened from her embarrassed flush, which only gave Brill a cheeky grin.

”I’m sorry… What was that?” Brill joked, removing her hand from Aria’s thigh and quickly pressing her thumb against Aria’s clit, giving it an agonizingly slow circle. The stimulation was enough to make Aria open her eyes, and offer up a loud ‘fuck’. Brill kept her thumb there, continuing it’s slow circles around Aria’s clit, the asari’s hips rolling slightly to try and spur more from Brill rather than this slow tease. “I thought so.” Aria licked her lips, her hips continuing to roll against Brill’s thumb.

Brill continued her circles, lowering down Aria to take another nipple into her mouth, rolling the peak with her tongue in time with her circles around Aria’s clit. Aria’s gratitude was shown by her soft moans as well as a lingering hand that found its way into Brill’s hair, the gentle tugs and massages at Brill’s scalp was something she could easily allow. Aria, after all, needed something to grip onto. Brill gave Aria’s nipple one last suck, Aria’s body almost following Brill’s lips up as Brill finally pulled away, and began to kiss a trail down Aria’s belly. Aria’s moans were getting louder, higher in pitch as her body arched, realizing where Brill’s lips were beginning to descend, a kiss on her inner thigh enough to make her legs quiver. 

Brill traced Aria’s lips once more with her finger, as well was one last circle around the asari’s clit, before replacing her finger with her tongue, circling Aria’s lip lightly. Aria tightly grabbed Brill’s hair in a ball, her back arching away from Brill, but she wrapped her arm around Aria’s thigh, holding the asari in place as she continued. There were several curses and other gasps of pleasure from Aria’s lips, but not once did she utter Brill’s name, knowing that would end the game or at the very least make Brill stop.

The tugs on Brill’s hair spurred her, pressing her tongue harder and circling faster around Aria’s clit, even taking it lightly between her teeth and sucking gently, the asari rolling her hips against Brill’s mouth in response. Brill slid her hand back between Aria’s legs, circling the asari’s clit with her thumb while her tongue dwelled lower, circling its way inside of the woman. The way Aria’s legs tightened around Brill’s head and her back continued to arch told Brill the asari was close.

It took every ounce of Aria’s will not to let her mind join with Brill’s, even as the human’s tongue pressed its way into her entrance and she felt herself begin to lose it, she still kept her mind in check. She kept herself steady, gripping Brill’s hair and instead tossing a biotic slam to the wall with her free hand, hitting a dresser and the doors flying open and falling off one of its hinges. The clock on the bed side table slowly rising from its perch, even the towels on the shelf near the bathroom began to rise, Aria’s biotics crackling over her skin as she felt her body begin to lose control. 

Brill was able to notice at least the clock rise up into the air, knowing full well that Aria was losing control of her own biotics, as if the broken closet wasn’t enough to tell her that. The asari was close, dangerously close, Brill pulled her lips free from Aria’s azure, removing her thumb from Aria’s clit. If anything was going to make Aria lose control and finally come, it was certainly going to be Brill’s little surprise. Brill’s own biotics glowed from her fingertips as she focused a purple mass effect field to the pads of her index and middle finger, feeling the tingle against her own fingers. She replaced her fingers back on Aria’s clit, the biotics tingling the asari’s bundle of nerves until… Brill let the field release, letting the surge shock Aria’s clit, the surge of biotic stimulation flowing through Aria’s clit and up her spine. The shock was enough to make Aria scream as she finally came, the room literally exploding as the clock was flung against the wall and shattered, the towels from the shelves being thrown in every direction around the room except the bed. Brill kept her fingers in place, roughly circling Aria’s clit and continuing her biotic stimulation as she rode out Aria’s orgasm, letting the woman keep her high, her purple skin radiating the deep blue of her biotics.

The pressure in the room slowly lessened, Brill’s ears popping as Aria’s biotics finally faded, Brill removed her hand from Aria’s azure, glancing up at the asari. She was sweaty, her head had turned, pressing a cheek against a pillow as she breathed deeply, releasing a heavy sigh into the side of a pillow. So that’s what it looks like when you make the Queen of Omega come in her own apartment, was she always a screamer? Aria’s eyes were squeezed shut, she was still trying to come down from her release, her world was obviously still floating around along with the station. Brill rolled off of Aria and crawled back up the bed, lying down next to her as her breathing started to slow. Brill rolled onto her side, propping her head up with her hand as she looked at Aria’s exhausted state, the woman still trying to regain her place back on the station.

”Are you always a screamer?” Brill asked, Aria’s eyes shooting open, her blue eyes instantly darkening at the sight of Brill’s smirk. “Just an honest question.” Aria didn’t speak, but she licked her lips in response. Well, if that didn’t answer Brill’s next question, Aria’s hand on the belt of her pants certainly did. Brill pressed her finger against Aria’s lips, stopping the woman from undoing Brill’s pants. “Only because I say so.” She said, Aria’s lips slowly smiling beneath Brill’s finger. At the words, Aria’s fingers deftly undid Brill’s belt, finally giving Aria access to Brill’s own sex, but before she could continue, Brill’s finger slid down Aria’s lips to grasp her chin and they shared one last kiss before Aria’s hand finally slipped into Brill’s pants.

And they continued to diddle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Riot's note:** It was literally required of me to put diddle in there somewhere, so I did. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter just as much as I did.


	6. Chapter 6

Always the same dream, the same fucking dream. The real life event wasn’t such splatter spree, but minds had a way of making the smallest of events the most triggering. Not to mention waking you up so brutally you more or less end up screaming yourself awake. Which is exactly how Brill woke up.

Brill woke up screaming, shooting up from the bed and nearly throwing the covers off herself. She quickly quieted herself, glancing around the dark room, the dark unfamiliar room at that. Along with her heavy breathing, Brill quickly took in her surroundings, still terrified that this dark place was the alley where the vorcha’s brains were splattered. As she quieted and peered around the room she realized, that wasn’t possible, first of all she was on a bed. The sound of someone breathing next to her made Brill whip her head around and instantly freeze. Granted the room was dark, there was just enough light for Brill to see the sleeping form beside her on the bed, with purple skin.

Aria T’loak. Fuck. The night came rushing back to Brill in an instant that completely washed away the horrors of her nightmares and was replaced by a small smirk that spread across her lips. That’s right… they had sex just a few hours ago maybe. There was no way of checking the current time, seeing as how Aria had shattered the clock during their antics. 

Brill lightly bit her bottom lip, watching Aria’s sleeping form. She was on her stomach, her arms wrapped around the pillow her head was rested on, all in all she seemed to be resting rather well after everything. The thought made Brill smile again, Aria was relaxed, comfortable enough to sleep with Brill in the same bed, that kind of relaxation you really only get from a good bout of sex. Even with Brill waking up screaming, Aria was still asleep, no doubt the sex was a relaxation method the asari desperately needed. Of course, it was Aria she probably had her own slathering of people she could have sex with, it was just the quality and the positions that Aria really needed to spice up. Score one for Brill.

Brill slipped her legs off the edge of the bed, careful to stand up and not disturb the asari as she got off the bed. She took one last glance towards the sleeping form, satisfied she hadn’t woken her, Brill went to work finding her clothes on the floor. Aria had tossed her pants… somewhere in the room, they couldn’t have gone far. Brill spotted her top and vest first, slipping them on before she finally her pants somehow crammed underneath the bed. She silently yet hurriedly dressed herself and quickly exited the bedroom, not wanting to stay any longer and accidentally wake the sleeping asari.

Luckily, the lights were still on in the living area. Brill slipped on her vest as she observed the living area, spotting the entrance, the holographic image hovering over the door displaying as green. So, the door was now unlocked. When in the hell did it get unlocked? Perhaps one of Aria’s guards had orders to unlock it after a certain amount of time to allow her one night stand to leave the premise. Granted, Aria probably didn’t anticipate being thrown to the bed like a naught little asari. Brill quickly shook her head, the last thing she needed was thinking of more dirty events from the night to make her rethink leaving the apartment. She had more important things to deal with anyways.

Brill ran for the entrance, quickly opening the door and exiting the apartment. As soon as the door closed behind her, she breathed a heavy sigh. It wasn’t a bad experience, but she felt that if she stayed any longer, she’d be pushing her luck. Yes, Aria and she had sex, but that didn’t mean she could overstay her welcome. Granted, Brill rubbed her chin as she observed the area around her, there was a chance that Aria really liked the sex and could possibly want more. That was a very good possibility. It was Aria’s station after all, if she wanted to find Brill again for a hook up she could easily find the human again.

Brill gave one last look back at the door to the apartment, a smirk spreading across her lips as she gave it one last longing look, the night’s events briefly coming back to her mind. It definitely was something worth reliving. Still, Brill turned away, tucking her hands into the pockets of her pants and walking her way away from the apartment. There were more pressing matters to attend to anyways.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It didn’t take long for Brill to get back to the maintenance tunnels and acquire her omni-tool bracelet once more. She had hidden it securely in a portion of tunnels near the Kenzo district of Omega. Granted it was probably the worse place to venture since the district was a well known Blood Pack hang out spot, she was feeling risky when she had decided to stash her stuff here before heading for Afterlife.

Brill clipped her omni-tool back to her wrist, adjusting the bracelet until she was comfortable with how it sat on her wrist. She keyed the bracelet and her familiar interface quickly appeared. It wasn’t too late in the night, he was probably still awake, Brill thought as she scrolled through her interface to open up her contact information. There weren’t many people she kept in contact with, other than one familiar turian who had already offered any assistance she might need while she was on her own. She dialed his omni-tool.

It only took a few rings before he answered the call, a blip of his face appearing as the video call opened. “Amvius.” Brill said, recognizing the turian’s face, looked like he has just woken from the call. So much for thinking he was still awake.

”Brill?” Amvius absentmindedly scratched his mandible, focusing on the video feed he had of the human. “What can I do for you?” He seemed to waken a little bit more, too bad the call wasn’t for sex, she was good on that department.

”I need to talk to you. Can you meet me?” Brill asked.

Amvius glanced around the room he was in, scratching his mandible once more. “I can. Where are you?”

”Near the Kenzo district. Meet me at the taxi station.” Brill said, closing the call without waiting for a response. Amvius can be quick when he needed to be, it wouldn’t take him long to rendezvous with her at the taxi station. She needed to get there easily without being possibly spotted by any Blood Pack, a feat that she could easily do.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Amvius was leaning against a taxi, waiting patiently, when Brill finally arrived. At the sight of her, he stood up from the car and waved. Brill jogged the last few feet to the turian, giving him a small nod. “Amvius.”

”Brill.” Amvius replied, returning the nod. “You look.” His eyes wondered downwards, it had been awhile since they had seen each other. “Good.” He finished.

She probably looked fairly radiant considering how relaxed she felt after… well. “You don’t look too bad yourself. Other than the shit looking face, but you always look like that.” Brill said with a grin. 

”You’re too kind.” Amvius said, deadpan. “You needed to speak to me?” he asked, bringing the conversation to the point at hand.

”Right.” Brill opened the interface to her omni-tool, scanning through her contacts. “I don’t know very many people on Omega, but I’ve been thinking of something to do with myself. Other than trying to steal from Aria again.” Doubtful she could get paid for having sex with Aria.

”So, you figured out what you want to do? Not return to the Talons?” Amvius said, his arms folding across his chest.

Brill lowered her omni-tool, looking at Amvius with a glare. “Don’t give me that shit, Amvius. I’m not going back. You know as well as I did that it was time for me to leave.” She replied harshly.

Amvius returned the glare, not backing down. “You didn’t _have_ to leave.”

”There’s this large ass scar on my thigh that reminds me why I needed to.” Brill said, her voice rising as she pointed to her thigh where the scar was.

”That was the Blood Pack, not the Talons. Nyreen will do anything to make sure none of her men are harmed. None of us saw the Pack asking for your head.” From the sound of his voice, Amvius was still perfectly calm despite Brill’s rising anger.

”Well maybe I don’t want to be CODDLED ANYMORE!” Brill shouted back, purple tendrils of biotics flared up from Brill’s skin, making Amvius take a step back. “I know you’re pissed about me leaving, Amvius, but it was time! I don’t want to have to depend on Nyreen or anyone else to fucking survive on this fucking station. I don’t want to depend on others to keep me alive, dammit. For once can I try to live for myself? Just fucking once!?” Brill’s biotics were radiating from her skin, Amvius had pressed against the taxi, holding up his hands in defense. He didn’t say a word in response, instead choosing to keep silent as Brill began to calm, the smell of ozone dissipating as her tense muscles relaxed and the biotic haze began to fade.

Brill took a deep breath, stepping back away from Amvius, giving the turian is space to recuperate from a possibly frightening ordeal. “I’m not going back, Amvius, at least not now.” Brill finally replied, she finally closed the interface on her omni-tool and looked back at Amvius who looked relieved that the imminent threat had passed.

”Okay. Spirits, I get it.” Amvius replied, sitting up from his position against the taxi, he lowered his arms finally, seeing that Brill wasn’t going to crazy on him. 

Brill glanced at Amvius from the corner of her eye, keeping her head directed to the floor. “Sorry.”

”Its alright. I shouldn’t have said that.” Amvius agreed, glancing away momentarily as his mind settled. “Just.. what did you want from me?”

Brill shook her head, looking back up at the turian. “I was considering information brokerage. Of the sort. If I want to get any information worth mentioning though, I’ll have to listen to specific channels. I can dig up dirt on the Blue Suns or the Blood Pack if I hack into their commmunications.” She explained, this new bit of information interesting Amvius as he looked back at her curiously.

”You can’t hack for shit.” Amvius concluded.

Brill sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Which is why I called you. Was hoping you knew someone with the experience. Preferably not part of the Talons. I’ll pay them for their services, of course. Once I start getting money in I’ll pay them, as long as they get the job done.”

”Getting dirt on the mercenary groups?” Amvius repeated, his voice skeptical.

”Come on, if anything they’ll be at each other’s throats. Everyone wants an advantage over the other. I can get dirt and sell it to the highest bidder. Once they get it they could tattle tale to Aria or blackmail them. I don’t care what they do with it, but I’ll give it to them. I mean you know that group, Cerberus, wants to make this station a hub for their research with the Omega 4 relay, right? What mercenary group wouldn’t want dirt on Cerberus? Not to mention we might as well keep an eye on them.” Brill explained, bobbing her head back and froth briefly. “Of course, you’re right, I don’t have the skills to hack into any of Omega’s channels, much less Cerberus. That’s why I can’t work alone.”

”A hacker partner.” Amvius concluded, scratching his mandible as he thought about it. “Someone not a part of the Talons and can hack into secure channels on the station.” He repeated, trying to think if he knew anyone that capable. A smile creeped across his mandibles as he glanced back at Brill. “I have someone in mind.”

”If you think they can do it, I’ll take your word for it.” Brill replied, her hopes rising as Amvius chuckled.

”Her name is Nova Deridax. Former Cabal specialist in the Turian Hierarchy. She has her hand with secure channels, she might just be perfect for the job.” Amvius said, tapping his lower mandible. 

”Turian Hierarchy?” One of Brill’s eyebrows slowly rose, curiously. “How the hell did she end up on this shit infested station?”

”You can ask her that when you meet her.” Amvius said as he opened his omni-tool. “I can arrange for the two of you to meet. You’ll see her skills in action for yourself, but I’m sure she’s the one for the job.”

Brill’s eyes squinted at Amvius as he opened up his contacts on his omni-tool, her brows lowering over her eyes. “This isn’t a woman you’ve slept with on occasion as well is it?” she asked suspiciously.

Amvius grinned and shook his head. “No. Occasionally wish I could, but she had more of a preference for a different sexual makeup.” 

At that, Brill’s eyes widened. “She goes for women?”

Amvius shrugged. “She more so preferred them. Can’t blame her.” He looked up from his omni-tool at Brill’s bewildered expression. “Why so surprised? You do realize Nyreen is the same way, right?”

Brill threw her arms up in the air. “Okay, what the fuck. How did I not know this?” she demanded.

”Not everyone makes it a point of expressing their sexuality, especially Nyreen, she had more important things to do anyways.” Amvius went back to his omni-tool, typing something before he quickly snapped his head back to Brill. She was looking at the floor, vigorously rubbing her chin, her eyes wide. “Will you stop imagining it and pay attention!”

Brill continued to rub her chin, ignoring Amvius’s frustrated gaze. “I can’t help myself. Just imagine, I could’ve been sleeping with you AND Nyreen if I really tried.”

”Spirits…” Amvius groaned, running a hand over the top of his head. “Listen, I’m arranging a meeting for you and Nova. Meet her at the Doru district tomorrow, mid day. You can decide the details of your partnership then.” He finally closed his omni-tool, drawing Brill’s attention back to him. “Behave yourself.”

”You make it sound like I’m a sex addict.” Brill laughed, Amvius continued to glare at the woman.

”No, but I probably didn’t help.” Amvius groaned, looking at Brill’s smirk. Brill’s quirky attitude was certainly improving since she started surviving on her own. “I heard down the grape vine that the Pack got chewed out by Aria yesterday. Something about them stealing from her… you wouldn’t know anything about that would you?” he asked.

Brill’s grin disappeared as she quickly chewed the inside of her cheek and shrugged. “Would have no clue why that is, I was busy having sex with some asari yesterday.” Balance one lie with one truth, partial truth.

”Right….” Amvius mumbled, clearly not swayed to believe that Brill was actually having sex with an asari, granted her mood certainly reflected it. “Message me if you need anything else. Otherwise, don’t get yourself killed.” 

”Apparently I have a pretty good track record when it comes to close encounters of the killing kind.” Brill joked, turning away from Amvius. “Until next time!” she jogged away, quickly disappearing into the shadows of the lowly lit station. Amvius stayed by the taxi for a bit longer, sighing heavily before climbing into the taxi and heading back.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

_The next day…_

If she had considered possibly, asking Amvius what the fuck the woman looked like, maybe things would go more smoothly. But alas, she didn’t. Brill sat on a high beam above an alley of the Doru district near the water treatment facility. This was where she was suppose to meet her possible new partner. Rather than showing her face in a place where Blood Pack could easily recognize her, Brill had opted for hanging from above and observing the passerbies that walked through the alley. Of course, her sneaky way of doing things would have been a success if she knew what the fuck her contact looked like. Noooo, Amvius couldn’t even attach a fucking picture to the woman, she was a turian no doubt but there were several turians that lived on the station. It was like finding a needle in a pile of shit ‘haystack’. If Aria knew how many times Brill mentally referred to the station as shit, she probably wouldn’t have been os kindly greeted yesterday.

Brill sighed, drooping her head. At this rate she might as well drop down below, if the Blood Pack wanted her head again, she was more than capable of handling them this time around, her biotics had improved tenfold and this wasn’t a dark alleyway. Of course, dropping down from above in front of a passerby probably wasn’t the best way to go about things, it was probably better to wait till the alley was clear. Brill sighed again, if that was going to happen, apparently the water treatment facility was the ‘go to place’ for hanging out and possibly red sand purchases. 

Brill sat on her perch for what felt like forever before the stream of people finally started to cease and the way was clear. Satisfied the coast was clear, Brill began to lower herself down from the beam until she was hanging down from it by one hand. The ground was still very far down below, she could easily break her legs if she let go, but of course, she let go. The fall was quick, Brill cushioning her landing with a quick biotic push, enough force to slow her decent as well as give a nice pillow of dark energy to let her land softly on bent legs. At that, Brill stood back up and wiped her hands together, satisfied with her nimble landing. 

”Was wondering how long you were going to hang up there.” 

”FUCK!” Brill screamed, spinning around to see a turian step out from the shadows behind her. It was just a small corner, from her angle above the alley, she couldn’t look into the corner enough to see anyone there, though she doubted there was anyone. The lack of light filtering from the ceiling to the corner was just enough to conceal the dark turian. Seeing the female turian step out from the darkness, Brill stood up straighter, this was probably her contact. “I thought I was the only one who could do that.”

”Hide in shadows and call it stealthy?”

Brill rubbed the back of her neck, staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah, that.”

”You must be Brill.” The turian extended a taloned hand, Brill kept her hand on her neck as she stared at the offered hand. Was she suppose to shake it? That was like rule number four in Brill’s handbook, don’t shake hands with strangers. Brill continued to stare at the hand, her eyes trailing upwards as she sized up the turian… the very tall turian. Brill had been wrong, the plates weren’t quite black but a very deep purple instead, her mandibles and facial plates accented by grey tattoos, three running along both mandibles as well as one running down the center of her face. At the sight of the turian’s left side, Brill’s face scrunched into a grimace, three rather deep scars ran along the length of the turian’s lower left mandible, looked like a fellow turian had gotten the better of her. 

”You look just as fucked up as Amvius does.” Brill finally replied, the turian lowering her hand as the shake was obviously declined.

”Nice to meet you too.” She folded her arms across her chest, studying the human. “Is this where you size me up? Try to determine if I’m good enough, I’m already leagues taller than you, what more do you want?”

Brill nodded, admiring the turian’s come back. “I was looking forward to someone reaching the high shelves for me.” She couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yes, I’m Brill. You must be Nova, Amvius failed at telling me what the fuck you looked like. I was waiting for you to show up before I showed my face, suppose that didn’t work out so well. How’d you figure it was me?” Brill asked, mentally making a note to ask how the hell Nova knew she was hiding above.

”Amvius said something about a sprightly little human that may or may not keep her head down in a crowd. I didn’t expect you to keep your head far above and far away from the crowd. Something about a run in with the Blood Pack before? I saw something scurrying up above, had a hunch it was you.” Nova explained, pointing up at the beams above, well that answered Brill’s next question.

Brill glanced up, the beams were darkened enough, not to mention her own dark complexion. It was near impossible to see anything up there. “You have good eyes.” She commented.

”I eat my dextro-vegetables.” Nova retorted.

Brill chuckled. “Okay, okay.” She waved off their casual talk. “Lets start over. I’m Brill.” She extended her hand, which Nova gratefully took in a shake.

”Nova. Amvius has told me some stories of your time with him and his brother. You’re shorter than I thought you’d be.” Nova said, their hand shake ending as Brill glared at the turian.

”I don’t normally live up to people’s expectations, especially when it comes to height.” Brill waved a hand behind her. “Should we find some place less frequented to discuss business? I’d rather not get caught off guard by Blood Pack again, even though I’ll have an acquaintance that I’m sure is more than capable. You were part of the turian hierarchy and all.” She suggested.

Nova nodded. “Agreed. Lead the way.” She said.

At that, Brill turned and began to walk. “So, Amvius seems to think you’re more than capable for the job.” Brill started as they walked, leaving the alley behind.

”He wasn’t too specific on explaining what you needed.” Nova said, walking in stride beside Brill, since she was taller, it wasn’t hard to keep up with the human. “A hacker. He’s not one for going into details.”

Brill groaned. “He’s really not. He’s not wrong though.” There weren’t that many people around them, not many people in Omega would give two shits about their discussion anyways, finding a secluded place wasn’t a big priority. Walking was enough to make people lose interest. “Each mercenary group is out for each other’s heads. They always want dirt on the other to either blackmail them or tattle tale to T’loak about shit they’ve been doing behind her back. Not to mention the fact that it looks like T’loak is in some sort of arrangement with Cerberus about possibly docking here. With that weird relay just outside Omega, they want to dock here as they do research there. The mercenary groups will eat that shit up, and they’ll pay good for any information I can provide them about either someone else on Omega or Cerberus.” Brill explained, Nova curiously gazing down at Brill as they walked.

”I don’t have any way of procuring that kind of information though, other than having a hand in it myself. Like me stealing for the Blood Pack, I could easily go to another group and let them know what the Pack has been up to and they can use that as blackmail. I don’t plan on doing that shit anymore so I need another way of digging up dirt on people or getting information someone might want.” Brill continued, maneuvering past aliens as they entered the market area of the district, squeezing past a group of batarians as she made her way out of the market area. As soon as they exited the most congested part, Brill turned towards Nova. “That’s where you come in hopefully. Monitor channels and hack communications networks to get me the information I need. I can’t have the lowest thing you can give me either. I want the cream of the crop, I want to know what ships are docking with the station and what they’re carrying. If I have to find a ghost for someone, I want to find that ghost. For instance, if someone in the Blood Pack asked me for my location, not knowing its me, I want to be able to give it to them. Despite how good I am at concealing myself. Of course, you’d be paid well for your expertise.” 

They reached the door that led to the shuttles it could easily take them to another district if their discussion continued. Nova crossed her arms, studying the floor before she quickly glanced back at Brill. “You ask for quite a lot.”

Brill shrugged. “I mean, if you don’t think you’re good enough for the job, I can look for someone else. I thought Amvius knew his people though, when he suggested you I thought maybe you’d be worthy of the recommendation.” She said, her voice rather aloof as she teased Nova’s skills.

”I can get it done. Just give me half the cut.” Nova replied plainly.

Brill coughed loudly, resting a hand on her hip as she coughed into her fist. “Excuse me? Half? Are you shitting me?”

”Does it look like I am? Give me half the cut of your profits and I’ll dig up any information you want and/or need, just send me the request.” Nova replied, matter of fact. “Trust me, you aren’t going to find anyone else capable or have enough gall to hack into Omega’s mainframe anyways.” Nova folded her arms across her chest, looking at Brill rather defiantly, and pleased with herself. “I’m all you got.”

Brill returned Nova’s gaze with a glare. “I have this feeling that I’m not going to like you.”

”You don’t have to. We just have to work together.” Nova replied. “So, half the cut?”

Brill sighed heavily, looking away from the turian as she extended her hand, she didn’t want to see the grin on Nova’s face. Aria probably had the same look on her face when she scammed the Talons out of a large portion of their red sand profits. “Fine, partner.” Nova took her hand, both of them shaking briskly, sealing their partnership. Brill finally let go, sighing and glancing back at Nova. “First thing is first. I know Cerberus has been frequenting every now and then, nothing concrete. Keep an eye on how many dock each day. Tally it up and send me a message every day.” Brill opened her omni-tool and opened up her interface. “Anyway for me to reach you?”

Nova nodded, opening her own omni-tool. “I have my own secure line we can use to communicate one another. If you have a job for me, contact me through it, and I’ll relay anything I get to you using the channel.” She explained, opening an interface and sending the steady stream of code to Brill’s omni-tool. The beep that followed signified its success. “Anything else you need from me to get your business started?”

Brill shrugged. “Should be fairly easy to get it going considering. Though a little, word-of-mouth shouldn’t hurt. Why don’t you tell any buddies of yours that the Blood Pack got shit on by Aria because I ratted them out about stealing Eezo from her warehouses.” She said. 

Nova’s eyes went wide. “That was you? I picked that up yesterday in chatter. How did you know about that?”

”I was the one stealing for them, duh. They tried to get me killed so I ratted their asses out to T’loak and now all of Omega knows they got their shit handed to them by her.” Brill shrugged, grinning as Nova’s expression. “Just spread the word that the Thief told on them. Not to mention the fact that I’m still alive even though I was the one doing the stealing.”

”I was about to ask… how did you get out of Afterlife alive?” 

”That’s… I have my ways, it’s a secret.” Brill winked, making Nova’s expression turn to confusion. “Regardless, I’ll call you if I need anything down. Need to get the business started. I have a few ideas, I’ll let you know if anything comes up. For now, do what I told you. Anything else would be good. Anything you would find interesting, send it to me, people will eat that shit up.” Brill glanced behind her to the shuttles. “Until next time I suppose.” Brill waved at Nova as she turned to leave, closing her omni-tool in the process as she climbed into a taxi. 

The taxi door closed and lifted off from the platform, as it rose into the air, Brill stared out the window, enjoying the sight of the entirety of the station. The tubes and machinery that kept the place alive. So many lights at that, it was a shit hole of a place but it was home. Granted, she had never been anywhere else but here, there was still no place she’d rather be. A vacation from the place though, now that would be something.

Brill watched the skyline roll past, she wasn’t quite sure where she was headed now, it was always best to just fly around as a form of staying out of sight, certainly did keep in handy. Granted, eventually she would have to land, which she did. She brought the taxi down near the docks, since she was having Nova monitoring how many Cerberus ships were coming in, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to see who was docked now. Brill stepped out of the taxi, glancing around her to make sure the coast was clear, of course the place was usually filled with different mercenary groups so it could be risky. Running into the Pack again after the shit she pulled the other day wouldn’t be good for her heath, in which they’d either kill her or she’d survive but be very bloodied. 

At this point, there was no reason to kill her, having already told Aria what they did, they probably assumed she was dead. Go to the Queen of Omega and tell her you were stealing for the Blood Pack, yeah you’re probably dead. Probably best to stick to the shadows regardless, which Brill did. She stuck to the wall, gliding along and checking her corners as well as each turn, making sure there was no one there before proceeding. It was an endless series of turns and passageways until a chime from her omni-tool stopped her.

Brill stopped, glancing around her quickly to make sure the coast was clear before opening her omni-tool. It was a message from someone, unfortunately the subject was listed as . Who the fuck could that be? 

**NOTE:** _Hearing whispers Aria is at the docks meeting with Cerberus about lending out docking ports. Mercenaries not happy._

Brill blinked at the message, glancing down a hall that she was resting at the corner of. Of course the mercenary groups wouldn’t be happy, having to share landing pads with Cerberus scumbags who were elitist and just hated aliens. It was probably Nova, Brill concluded, closing down her omni-tool. It was certainly something to look into, if Aria was at the docks, Brill could verify that fairly easily since she was already here. It would be an unused landing pad, which one was unused though? 

Brill reopened her omni-tool, opening a quick response to her Unknown sender with: _What landing pad has the Cerberus frigates been using?_ Brill closed her omni-tool again, glancing down the hall before quickly jogging down it, it would probably take a while for Nova to find out the information and repo--

Brill’s omni-tool chimed, making her stop again, _damn that was fast_. She reopened her omni-tool and quickly found the single response back from Nova. _Dock #L09_

Wasn’t too far. Brill closed the omni-tool and continued her jog down the hall keeping her feet light on the metal flooring. She could see a holographic sign down the hall that shined brightly: L09. That was her destination. As she got closer, Brill slowed her jog, quickly pressing her back against the side of the entrance, the door was wide open, leading into the landing bay. She could hear voices coming from inside, but couldn’t quite make out what was being said at all, the landing pad was too big. Carefully, Brill peeked her head out through the entrance, scanning the entirety of the dock. 

It was Cerberus alright, a giant transport shuttle was resting in the middle of the large hanger, the orange and black symbol of Cerberus plastered on its wing. Not to mention there were humans all around it, hefting around large crates of who knows what. Brill took advantage of her spot, opening her omni-tool and snapping a quick few pictures by holding her arm out. She quickly withdrew her arm and replaced her head back at its spot of viewing into the dock. From what she could tell there were just a bunch of humans, no sign of a familiar purple asari. 

The sound of voices coming down the hall behind her, from where she came from, made Brill jump and spin around. Well, shit. Nova’s sources weren’t wrong, Aria was in fact here bartering a deal with Cerberus, not to mention the fact that the asari was walking right towards Brill. 

Luckily, Aria was too frustrated and engrossed in her conversation with the Cerberus officer walking with her that Brill hadn’t been noticed. There was only one hall, and the dock behind Brill, there was no way she could hide there, that’s where they were headed. Shit shit shit. Brill shook her head and quickly ducked into the landing pad, diving for the nearest pile of crates near the entrance to the dock. She scooted around the pile, finding the side that had the most shadow from the lights above, satisfied she was concealed, she peeked up over the pile of crates to see the humans working diligently around the ship. Good, they hadn’t noticed her. 

The voices coming from the hall started to get louder the closer they got to the hanger until they finally emerged. Brill saw them enter right before she ducked back down, concealing herself behind her cover. 

”Cerberus greatly appreciates what you’re doing for us, and we’d be more than happy to compensate you for your generosity.” It was the Cerberus officer, he sounded pleased, but he was certainly faking it, more aggravated that he had to make business with an asari.

”Call it what you want, I’m just looking for a profit.” No doubt Aria detected his annoyance. “You pay me to use my docking bays or you don’t’ use them all, that’s the deal. Cerberus can do whatever the hell they want with the Omega 4 relay.”

”Of course. Of course. The first payment is onboard our ship if you and your men would like to receive it now.” Brill glanced up over the pile of crates, seeing the two had entered the hanger a little bit from the entrance, they were a couple yards from where Brill hid, luckily the hanger was quiet enough for Brill to hear everything. She glanced back towards the entrance, seeing a couple of krogans as well was one batarian emerge, that must be her men. 

”Now.” Aria pointed towards the ship as well as a couple of humans that hefted a rather large crate, her payment no doubt. The krogan bodyguards made their way to the humans, them instantly dropping the crate and backing away from it as one krogan hefted it over his shoulder. Brill squinted at the humans, they were backing away in disgust rather than fear, alienist assholes. 

”I’m looking forward to our continued business, Ms. T’loak.” The Cerberus officer said, since the business was handled, he headed back towards the ship.

Aria glanced at the large crate of credits the krogan carried, smiling at it. “As do I. Take it back, make sure you don’t get slowed on the way.” The krogan nodded adjusting the crate and continuing his way out the hanger, the second krogan holding a shotgun as backup. 

The batarian, on the other hand, stayed in the station walking up to Aria to stand beside her. “I don’t like it. The mercenary groups won’t be too happy with Cerberus being on the station.” The batarian said.

Aria kept her eyes on the Cerberus shuttle as she listened to the batarian. “They can whine all they want. I don’t like Cerberus just as much as you don’t, Anto, I’m just looking to make a profit. One little fuck up and they can kiss this little agreement good bye. Either way, no one is allowed to fuck with their operations or else they’ll be hearing it from me.”

”Should I post guards at the docks?” Anto, the batarian asked her.

Aria turned her attention back to the batarian. “No, if they want to stay here, they can protect their own ships. Don’t bother with them. If someone messes with their precious ships, they’ll come crying to us and then we’ll deal with it.” She replied. “Let’s move, I have more important matters to deal with than Cerberus.” With that, Aria turned back towards the exit. Brill quickly ducked back behind the pile out of sight, but she heard Aria’s footsteps suddenly halt. “Did you….”

”What is it Aria?” Anto asked.

”Never mind, its nothing.” Brill sighed softly, staying where she was as she heard Aria and Anto finally leave the hanger. She waited until she could no longer hear their steps echoing down the hall before she finally got up and quickly made her way out the hanger. 

Brill moved slowly this time, being careful to check to make sure the halls were clear, she didn’t want to accidentally run into Aria again. If the asari found her after that she would immediately accuse her of eavesdropping, not to mention fume at the fact that Brill had left after the vigorous sex the other night. At least she didn’t take any of Aria’s money, or a bottle of wine, then it would be like Brill had been paid for the sex. The thought made Brill slow her walking and laugh, shaking her head to clear the thought and continue on a brisk jog down the halls.

The taxi stand was close, Brill quickened her pace, wanting to leave the docks as quickly as possible before getting caught. She made it to the taxi station, stepping into the landing pad with a grin of success before… her heart sank as she spied the two krogans that were Aria’s bodyguards. They were both busy loading the money into a taxi to notice Brill entering the landing pad, thankfully. The batarian, Anto was just behind them, his omni-tool open doing something, all of them were preoccupied, she could still easily get away without being noticed and then wait for them to leave. Brill quickly took a slow step back, being as quiet as possibly as she turned around, hoping to hide in the halls until they had left until she froze, half turned towards the exit.

Blue eyes locked onto Brill, it was a look of bewilderment, but turned to recognition, and quickly followed by anger. Brill stared back at Aria, wide eyed at the asari, she had been standing off to the side but she was close to the entrance to the landing port. Aria was in the perfect position for Brill to enter and not even notice she was there until Brill turned around, did she plan that on purpose? From the look of the bewilderment, Aria didn’t expect to see Brill, maybe someone but certainly not the same dark skinned human. Still, despite Aria’s visual anger, she didn’t move nor lunge at Brill. 

Brill glanced back at the krogans and the batarian at the taxi over her shoulder, they were still busy and hadn’t noticed the confrontation yet. She looked back at Aria, an eyebrow raising at the asari at her lack of action. It wasn’t time to question Aria’s motives or ask why she wasn’t going to kill Brill, instead Brill glanced away, spotting a small alleyway in the landing pad, from what she knew, it probably led to an access to the maintenance tunnels. It was out of sight, but unfortunately still close to Aria’s men, it would have to suffice. Brill looked back at Aria and lightly nodded her head in the direction of the passageway. Instead of waiting for a response, Brill tucked her hands into her pockets and turned away, heading down the passageway before Aria’s men took notice. 

As soon as Brill was out of sight in the passageway she pressed her back against the wall and breathed a sigh. She was pretty positive Aria was going to kill her after seeing her just a second ago, but maybe she was wrong. Brill rubbed her chin, covering her mouth with the palm of her hand as she stared at the other wall across from her, the lights were dim here so it was a clever spot to hide just in case Aria’s guards decided to peek in. Why didn’t Aria do anything? She was shocked when she realized it was Brill, probably because she figured she’d never see the human again. If that were true then why didn’t Aria take the chance to butcher Brill alive? Unless… she….

”You.” Brill snapped her head around, seeing Aria enter the concealed passageway rather angrily, but she kept her voice low, her tone on the other hand was bitter and obviously pissed. Clearly, from her hushed voice, Aria didn’t want her guards seeing the confrontation.

”Me.” Brill answered, pushing herself off the wall and turning fully towards Aria, her arms folded across her chest. Aria’s hand was up, pointing an angry finger at Brill, but no words came out of the asari. Brill’s brows lowered, a smirk spreading across her face, she leaned forward, cupping a hand around her ear. “I’m sorry, were you going to say something else?” she jokingly asked. “I should remind you, you owe me at least 100 credits.”

Aria lowered her hand, taking a step back. “Owe you? For…?” her eyes widened as she made the connection. “I am not paying you for shit.”

Brill chuckled. “Oh come on, we both know that wasn’t shit. You actually gave me a nice ovation for my performance, it was very vocal in fact. I think that deserves some sort of payment.” She joked, Aria’s mouth hung open in stunned silence, but she quickly snapped her mouth shut, keeping her lips sealed. “Fine, I’ll give you a freebee, since it sounded like you desperately needed it. Don’t think that next time won’t cost you though.”

”There won’t be a next time.” Aria hissed, there was that harshness again.

Brill tapped her tongue against her teeth, shaking her head disappointedly. It took her a split second, there was a loud pop, the passageway filled with the burning smell of ozone as Brill lunged at Aria, instantly grabbing the asari’s wrists and pinning them to the wall on either side of Aria by her head. Brill had Aria pinned against the wall, her knee pressed comfortably between the asari’s legs. At this position, Aria was pinned against the wall low, giving Brill a chance to be eyelevel with the asari for once. “We both know that you won’t let it be just a onetime thing.” Brill whispered, Aria’s anger having melted away and replaced with astonishment. 

Aria’s gaze lowered, her brows lowering as she tried not to look at Brill. “It’s not supposed to leave the apartment.” She whispered. 

Brill grinned, the game, she meant. Brill released one of Aria’s wrists to grasp the woman’s chin and bring her gaze back up. “You are right, my little asari, I did say that. As long as you are quiet though, I can have you wherever I want, don’t want your guards so close by to hear you scream.” She answered, tilting her head to the side as she saw Aria’s pleading expression, she did want it. Brill shifted her knee, putting pressure against Aria’s azure that made the asari close her eyes and moan. “Any little thing really does turn you on huh? Of course, how often are you pinned against a wall?”

Aria squirmed a little bit, using her free hand and resting it on Brill’s chest, she pushed slightly. “Brill.” She said softly.

That was it, Brill stepped back, letting go of Aria’s other hand and letting the woman come off the wall. Brill folded her arms across her chest, watching the asari. “So I take it from your hesitation a bit ago, that you don’t plan on killing me?”

Aria groaned, glancing back towards the car lot momentarily before looking back at Brill. “No.” she answered plainly. 

”Keeping me alive?” Brill smirked, Aria meeting her gaze with a glare. “For sex I hope. No worries Aria, I know where you’re apartment is now so…. If you ever need me, just keep the door unlocked and I’ll be more than happy to stop by.” She said.

Aria glanced back towards the landing pad, looking back at Brill quickly, that same pleading expression on her face, that’s exactly what she wanted to hear. “And what if you needed it?” she asked.

Brill couldn’t help but chuckle again. “Oh no.” she said, grasping Aria’s chin lightly. “We both know you want it more than I do.” At that, she pressed a kiss to Aria’s lips, she could feel the asari leaning it, and obviously wanting more than the brief session they had the other night. Brill pulled away, letting go of Aria and backing away. “You should probably go, before you guards wonder where you are and find you here, rather indisposed. Wouldn’t want the Queen of Omega discredited when everyone finds out she has some hot human ass she bangs occasionally.”

Aria’s shoulders slumped, her brows lowering as she glared at Brill. “Hot human ass?” 

Brill rolled her eyes. “Fine, so you’re the one with the hotter ass, who cares just get going before they realize you’re here.” She repeated.

Aria shook her head, turning and quickly leaving Brill standing in the small passageway. Brill tilted her head as she watched the asari leave, biting her bottom lip and praying to herself that she would find a certain door unlocked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Riot's Note:** Just so you know, I do not own Nova Deridax. Creation of Nova belongs to my friend Nora and I cannot thank her enough for allowing me to use her beautiful OC as Brill's counterpart. Just hope I can make her as badass as you want me to. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Until next time! Keep reading!


	7. Chapter 7

The door was, in fact, unlocked, much to Brill’s delight. Yet, when she entered the apartment, she tried to keep her excitement to a minimum, rather than leap into the air as soon she entered. Except, when Brill entered the apartment, it was empty. She had checked every room to be sure, but she was correct, the place was deserted. There was no way Aria would just leave her apartment unlocked, no doubt she had requested her guards to unlock it so Brill could enter, the main guest of the party just wasn’t present yet. Seeing as how there was a large deal done with Cerberus, and a lot of credits to sort through, Brill figured she had some time to herself before Aria showed up. She took the time to raid the kitchen for some food, recalling that it had been a few bit since she last ate.

Suffice it to say, Brill ended up burning an hour and a half of time down by eating Aria’s food and drinking her fancy wine, it was better than charging her credits for the sex. What did that make her now? If she didn’t get paid for the sex she wasn’t a prostitute… oh fuck it she’s just taking advantage of the empty apartment. Brill settled on the couch, full and slightly tipsy, a state of mood she wasn’t use to considering her upbringing but she enjoyed it, relaxing on the couch with a giddy smile on her face as she watched the apartment entrance.

From Aria’s way of ceasing whatever fun they could have had at the docks, Brill figured the asari wanted to talk first or get right to it, all would depend on how the asari entered the apartment. With something like this… it was probably best to lay down some ground rules, granted Brill had already assured Aria that everything that happened in the apartment, stayed in the apartment. Then again, Brill had ratted out the Pack for stealing, who’s to say she wouldn’t rat out Aria? Brill chuckled, who would believe her? _Yeah, I’m fucking Aria T’loak and she’s a total sub in bed with me._ That wasn’t believable at all.

Brill relaxed onto the couch, rolling her head on her neck, a hand lingering on her thigh as she lightly rubbed the scar beneath her pants. Thing was still tender, maybe better to ask Aria to be a bit more gentle with it this time around, that or just fuck the asari until she falls asleep and then tip toe out the door… again.

The door hissed open, Brill snapped her head up, seeing Aria quickly enter the apartment, her blue eyes settling on Brill seated on the couch. Brill remained seated on the couch as they both stared at each other, Aria more so glaring than staring. 

”Aria.” Brill said smugly, breaking the silence.

Aria looked away, her eyes on the kitchen as she strode further into the apartment, the door closing behind her. “Brill.”

At that, Brill groaned, dropping her head back to rest on the back of the couch and rolling it along the backside. “You’re no fun.” Brill replied, annoyed, she had been hoping that Aria would want to fuck first and talk later, more of a chance that Brill could just escape and avoid the whole thing.

Aria made her way to the kitchen island, grabbing a bottle of wine that Brill had opened and pouring herself a glass. “Why? Wanted a chance to walk out again?” she asked, sipping the wine.

Brill turned herself on the couch, watching Aria drink from where she was. “Possibly, I mean you could still beat the crap out of me. You could be planning it still. I didn’t check the bathroom, any chance that its lined with plastic so you don’t get any blood on the floor?” Aria almost spit out her wine, but quickly recovered and swallowed it down, instead opting to set the glass back onto the countertop. “You’re not an Ardat-Yakshi, that’s for sure if the other night’s any indication so you probably want to kill me in a different manner.”

”Why exactly, would I want to kill you?” Aria asked, she kept her gaze away from Brill, focusing on a distant object in a different direction rather than look at the seated human.

Brill shrugged. “Woman in your position, you probably don’t want to be seen as weak and lose all your credibility. Granted its just sex, if someone were to find out, might not think the great Queen of Omega is as hard ass and tough as everyone thinks she is.” She explained, as she spoke, Aria returned to her glass and finally turned to look at Brill. “A friend once told me that sex is a vulnerable moment that people tend to come out in. They become vulnerable, they show the deepest desires when its between just two people. On your landing, in Afterlife, anywhere else in Omega you’re the Queen, strong hard ass that won’t let anyone fuck with her, of course that’s the rue of Omega. Here, you aren’t.”

Aria leaned against the kitchen island, one hand on the counter top while the other handled the glass of wine. “What makes you say that?”

Brill smirked. “A very verbal ovation the other night, that and the sheer fact that you let me do what I want with you. Not only that, but you wait for permission to do anything with me. You play the game and you enjoy it, don’t lie to yourself. I enjoy playing it myself, its how I’ve always been with my sexual partners, and they generally enjoy it. If they don’t, they let me know and even though its not how I play I let them take the reigns. Between the two of us, if you wanted to, I could let you take the reigns, that way we’ll never run into an issue such as your guards walking in on me pinning to you a wall.” She explained, shrugging lightly. Aria groaned, turning her head back away to sip at her wine. “You enjoyed it, you know you did.” 

Brill turned back around, relaxing her back onto the couch, bending her arms to rest her hands on the back of her neck. She closed her eyes, smirking only slightly as she enjoyed the comfort of the couch. “You enjoyed it so much you pretty much requested I come by, even left the door unlocked like I told you that you could. Don’t feel ashamed in your own urges Aria, we all have guilty pleasures we need to satisfy every once in a while. You’re more than welcome to satisfy this specific one with me. In fact, I encourage it.” Brill kept her eyes closed as she spoke, letting Aria think about her words as Brill tried hard not to drift asleep on the couch, it was pretty comfortable. Aria knew her couches.

There was a light sound of Aria putting her glass on the counter, Brill could hear the asari’s boots on the floor, making her way around the couch to face Brill. Brill remained in the state she was, her eyes closed, though knowing full well Aria stood in front of her now. There was the slightest sound of fabric rustling, no doubt Aria was folding her arms across her chest rather than undressing; much to Brill’s dismay. “So you won’t tell anyone about this?”

”You have my word. Of course, who would believe me anyways? No one would believe me if I told them I was fucking Aria T’loak and letting me do whatever I wanted to her. Well.” Brill opened her eyes, looking at Aria standing in front of her. “Whatever shes okay with me doing, that is. You know how to stop the game after all, should it be too painful or too much for you.” Brill closed her eyes again, ignoring Aria’s lingering gaze. “Of course, you ended it as soon as you entered.”

Brill could hear Aria move again, followed by a soft thud on the floor, the asari was on her knees now, in front of the couch. “You do realize how idiotic of a choice that was? If you don’t want to stop, you should have thought of a word I wouldn’t so easily say.”

There was weight pressed against either side of Brill’s legs, she kept her eyes closed, but her best guess was that it was Aria’s hands. “Perhaps, but you did pretty good last time. If you enjoy it so much, you’ll put every ounce of will into not screaming my name and ending it all.” Brill finally opened her eyes, tilting her head forward to gaze at Aria, the asari on her knees just in front of Brill, leaning forward with her hands resting on the seat of the couch. The familiar tongue lingered its way from Aria’s lips, licking her bottom lip in the way she did when she was aroused, seeing the familiar act made Brill smirk. “And I really like that concept.”

Aria’s gaze lingered downwards, Brill watched, knowing full well what the asari was thinking. “How would I, restart the game? Since I ended it as soon as I entered?” she asked.

Brill leaned forward, catching Aria’s chin in her hand, tilting the asari’s gaze back up. “You need only to ask. I can’t exactly say no after I watched you leave the docks, shaking that ass of yours.” She answered, her sultry voice low as she leaned towards Aria. 

Aria’s brows lowered, her own grin forming just slightly on her lips. “You were checking out my ass?”

”Can’t help myself, can you?” Brill replied plainly, giving Aria a kiss. 

It wasn’t a passionate kiss like the one before, more of a lingering one, like neither of them were sure how to going about this strange… agreement they had. Agreement was probably a better pick of words rather than fuck buddies, since they weren’t really buddies. Aria probably more so tolerated Brill rather than enjoyed her company, this was, after all, only their fourth time meeting.

A lingering hand on Brill’s thigh made her finally pull away from Aria, gazing into the asari’s blue eyes curiously. Before Aria responded, she licked her lips slightly, gazing up at Brill with hooded eyes. “And what would I have to do to have you let me take these pants off?” She asked, her hand lightly tugging on the fabric of Brill’s pants. 

Brill sat back, releasing Aria’s chin as she smirked wickedly, relaxing against the couch with her hands cupped behind her head. “You, would have to get undressed first. All of it, and I’m not helping this time. Fast or slow, I just want it gone.”

It didn’t take long for Aria to follow Brill’s request, quickly stripping her armored jumpsuit and vest and tossing them off to the side. Seeing Aria’s rush and increasingly naked body made Brill adjust herself on the couch, adjusting her pants only slightly and spreading her legs wider from where she sat. Once Aria was completely naked, she went back to her knees in front of Brill, leaning forward and grasping Brill’s belt, fiddling with the clasp. Brill rested back, her arms bent above her head and her hands resting on the back of her neck as she watched Aria’s determination to get Brill’s pants off, it was a sight to watch, not to mention very arousing. 

Aria finally freed Brill’s belt, tugging her pants down past her ass. Following Brill’s ass, Aria tugged them hard, Brill grimacing loudly in pain as the pants stopped partly down her thighs. Hearing Brill, Aria instantly stopped, glancing up at Brill with surprise, her hands letting go of Brill’s pants. Brill quickly grabbed Aria’s hand, keeping her hand against Brill’s thigh.

”No… no, its okay. Just, go slower, bit more gentler. We can take our time.” Brill replied, her voice strained from the sudden hit of pain on her thigh. At that, Aria replaced her hands on the waist of Brill’s pants, slowly pulling them out past Brill’s thigh. Once Aria reached Brill’s knees, she leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to the large scar on Brill’s thigh. The kiss made Brill’s brow rise, looking rather confused at Aria’s actions. 

Aria glanced up from Brill’s legs, having finished kissing Brill’s scar, seeing the woman’s confused gaze made her glare back. “Oh shut it.” Aria groaned.

Brill held up her hands defensively. “I didn’t say anything!” she replied with a smirk.

Aria returned Brill’s smirk with a glare, pulling her pants off the rest of the way. “You were thinking it.”

”I was thinking a lot of things, to which are you referring?” Brill asked, Aria’s glare being replaced by a smirk, her hands sliding up the inside of Brill’s thighs, parting her legs.

”Let me think…” Aria began, her hands cupping Brill’s ass, urging the human closer to the edge of the couch. Brill greatly obliged, scooting closer to Aria and relaxing against the back of the couch once more. Aria dipped her head, not wasting a second before running a tongue around Brill’s wet folds.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was her beeping omni-tool that finally woke Brill, and she was grateful for it, the silent beeping sounds having finally wretched her from yet another terrifying nightmare. It made Brill jolt awake, breathing heavily and running a hand over her face as she took a deep shuddering breath. Damn the dreams, they kept driving her insane, getting bloodier and bloodier every time she closed her eyes. Sometimes it was the brain splatter from the vorcha, other times it was the knife coming down on her leg. This time, it was a mixture of the two, making Brill feverish as she tossed and turned in Aria’s bed after another round of their little game. 

As soon as Brill calmed, she silenced her omni-tool, not even bothering to look at the message before glancing beside her to the sleeping asari. Aria was out like a light again, good, at least Brill had screamed herself awake this time. Brill shook her head, slipping off the bed and heading for the living room, its where her clothes were, she couldn’t quite remember how they made it to the bedroom. They did and all their clothes had been left in the living room beside the couch, where it had all began..

Brill gathered up her shirt, fishing up her pants and quickly slipping them on. She winced, feeling her waist band catch lightly against her thigh. “Shit.” Brill mumbled, tugging her pants the rest of the way before fastening her belt. She adjusted the pants a little, making sure that nothing tugged or pressed against her thigh too much before slipping on her shirt and scanning around for her vest. It had to be somewhere in the living room. As she searched, Brill opened her omni-tool, opening the message that had woken her from the nightmare that wouldn’t end. 

**Subject: UNKNOWN** Message: _Two Cerberus ships this morning._

Brill frowned at the message, it was from Nova no doubt. Two Cerberus ships already? Just what the hell are they doing on the other side of that relay? Brill stopped, just next to the backside of the couch and quickly typed her reply asking Nova to fish up a shipping manifest from the ships. If Nova was as good as Amvius had said, she’d be able to get ahold of the manifests. It was better to know what the hell was on those ships rather than let them come and go as they pleased.

Brill got down onto her hands and knees, glancing under the couch for her vest, to no avail. Where the fuck did they take it off at? Brill remained on the floor, glancing around on her hands and knees for the damned vest. Another bleep from her omni-tool made her halt her search and stand up on her knees, reopening her omni-tool.

**Subject: UNKNOWN** Message: _Picking up rumors. Mercenary bands are considering raiding a Cerberus dock._

Well fuck. Brill sighed, closing her omni-tool rather than answering back to the message. That was the number one priority now, make sure none of the groups decide to fuck with Aria’s new business partners. Granted she probably didn’t appreciate them being on the station as much as anyone else, it was still money coming into the station. Brill finally stood up, using the back of the couch to help her up. Damn, the previous rough night at left her leg sore and painful, best to try and take it really easy today. No getting shot at, or running from gun fire. In other words, stay the fuck away from Blood Pack. Brill turned around, deciding at last to just leave the vest behind, until the disregarded clothing smacked her in the face and fell into her open arms. 

Brill glanced down at the vest in her arms and then quickly back up to see the naked Aria standing next to the bedroom door, an annoyed expression plastered across her face. “Oh.” Brill mumbled, slipping on the vest. “Couldn’t quite remember where we discarded it. Most of the disrobing took place in here so.” Aria only continued to glare at Brill. “What? Did you not enjoy tonight?”

A grin creased across Aria’s stern lips, try as she might, she did enjoy the night’s events, again. “I should have figured you’d leave as soon as you woke.” She said, Brill shrugged on the vest and walked towards the naked asari, the fact that Aria was still naked, didn’t phase her.

”Didn’t take you for the after sex cuddling type. Considering the fact that we’re enjoying each other’s company through sex, and sex alone. You’d rather never see my face in public, probably.” Brill added, standing in front of Aria, looking slightly up at the asari. “Don’t worry I’ll keep my distance. Don’t want a repeat of yesterday.”

”Mind explaining to me what the hell you were doing in my docks?” Aria asked, her voice turning to a deeper sternness. She folded her arms across her chest, looking down at Brill darkly.

Brill shrugged. “Not stealing from you, that’s for sure.”

Aria scowled at Brill. “But you were eavesdropping.”

”With the best intentions. Trust me, the slightest form of eavesdropping for information you’ll catch me in will be in your best interest. Now, if you don’t mind. I must be off.” Brill turned, Aria grabbed hold of Brill’s arm, stopping her.

”Don’t go near my docks again.” Aria replied, her voice was fierce but Brill returned her glare with a smirk.

”I’m pretty sure, I’m the one who gives the orders in this apartment.” Brill replied, but Aria didn’t release her grip.

”I’m serious, Brill.”

Brill continued to return Aria’s glare, despite the asari slipping her name, Brill continued to stand tall. “Unless you finally kill me, like you should have day one, you can’t stop me from doing what I want. Now, let go.” There was a long silence between them, Brill kept her ground, she could see Aria question herself and what she should do. She was trying to be authoritative, but with it just being the two of them here, Brill continued to deny her. Aria could be commanding when she was in Afterlife, surrounded by her guards, she could be the Queen of Omega anywhere else, but not here. Aria knew that, and she finally released Brill’s arm. Without another word, Brill left, exiting the apartment swiftly before Aria tried to act high and mighty again. 

As soon as the door to the apartment closed behind her, Brill heaved a heavy sigh. Normally she would listen to Aria, not wanting to get on the asari’s bad side, granted she was probably already on her bad side. This time though, Brill needed to head to the docks to intervene any possible raid on the Cerberus ships, it was for Aria’s benefit, she just didn’t need to know what Brill planned on protecting her investments; rather than letting them be sabotaged. She had to be quick, taking another breath, Brill ran.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_Docks…._

It took Brill a bit to finally arrive at the docks, but from the normal sound of working people, she was on time. There was always the possibility that a raid on Cerberus ships was just a rumor, and no one actually had the gall to go through with it. This was Omega, The Blood Pack had enough balls to pay someone one to steal from Aria, who was to say someone wouldn’t antagonize Aria’s new business partners? When Brill made it to the dock where the Cerberus ships had landed, her assumption had been correct. 

The dock was empty, there were no crates surrounding the ship, meaning Cerberus hadn’t emptied the ship of its contents yet, they probably decided to take a break. Unfortunately, it was a badly timed break, proven even more so by the sight of a group of turians and batarians standing beside the crates Brill had hidden behind just yesterday. Since the dock was empty, they weren’t hiding, instead, some of them held assault rifles, ready to raid the ship. Perfect timing, except for the fact that they held weapons. There was a few of them, but… she could probably take them on.

Probably.

Brill stepped into the docks, quickly approaching the group of suicidal mercenaries who had yet to take notice of her. “Well, well, well.” She said, announcing her arrival to the small group.

They spun around to face her, some of them pointing their guns at her but soon lowering them after discovering it was only a lone human, a lone small human, probably closely resembling a child. “What do you want human?” At least they were no longer hostile now that they thought Brill was just an innocent little human.

”Oh.” Brill shrugged, folding her arms across her chest as she looked at the turians and batarians in front of her. “Just wanted to see the group of assholes who think they can go against Aria’s wishes and think they can get away with it. Don’t mind me, carry on, please, I really want to see how your asses go down as soon as she finds out who’s responsible for fucking with Cerberus.” 

They didn’t seem quite pleased with her response. The turian closest to her raised his gun, aiming it at her head. “What did you say human?” 

Brill stared at the barrel of the gun pointed at her, sighing heavily. “Did I fucking stutter?” she asked, taking a step towards the barrel of the gun, not even flinching at how close it was. “You guys have some fucking balls if you think its okay to go against the fucking Queen of Omega. You really think you can get away with raiding a Cerberus ship without the Queen owning your asses? I love the amount of stupidity the group of you has.” Brill said with a smirk, the turian in front of her nudged the gun closer towards her. Instead of letting the turian continue to try and intimidate her with the assault rifle, Brill tilted her head to the side incase he did shoot. She moved so fast, grabbing the barrel of the gun and wrenching it from the turian’s fingers. She held it off to the side, still clutching it by the barrel as she stared at the turian’s bewildered expression.

”You don’t know what you’re saying human!” The turian shouted, clearly aggravated to the fact that she had taken the gun from him. The others remained where they were, unmoving, some of them snickering at how easily the turian was disarmed.

”You guys are the ones being idiots here.” Brill kept the gun in her hand, flinging her arm to the side and using her biotics to launch the gun from her fingertips and shatter it against the wall closest to them. The crumpled remains of the gun hit the floor, now the others seemed more agitated rather than laugh at their friend. “Do yourself a favor and leave the dock. Aria is bound to send some guards down here to check on Cerberus, you don’t want to be here, raiding the ship, when they do arrive. Aria would flay you all alive if she found you stealing her profits. That’s what Cerberus is, money coming in to the station, that’s why she agreed to this damn thing.” Brill made her way to a batarian, pointing a finger directly into his face. “Unless, you do something fucking smart, and leave now, if you get caught, you can tell her damn guards that you weren’t doing anything and they’ll let you go. If anything, Aria will commend you for not raiding the ships.”

Brill turned around and looked at the others, at least now it looked like they understood, they weren’t acting hostile. “I know how you feel. I may be a human and Cerberus may be composed of a shit ton of a humans, but they’re a group of idiots and alienist assholes. If you ask me, they’re bound to make a mistake. Its fucking Cerberus, they’re notorious of fuck ups. Here’s what you can do, wait for Cerberus to fuck up, like they always do, and before you know it, Aria will be begging the lot of you to raid those ships. You can wait till then, if you wait you won’t get in trouble by the Queen.” On of the turians held his weapon by his side, glancing amongst the others as he started to consider the idea. 

”Would Aria send guards here?” The turian asked, he was starting to look very nervous at the possibility.

Brill glanced towards him, nodding. “Of course! You really think Aria would rather hear the complaints of Cerberus about being raided than protect her investments?” Brill approached the turian, clapping him on the shoulder despite her short stature. “Go home, all of you and save yourselves before you make the biggest mistake of your life. Aria’s guards will probably be here any minute, and if they catch you, you’ll have done nothing wrong.” Everyone glanced amongst each other, contemplating listening to a human, of course, she had a valid point. Despite her entering the hangar with a slew of insults for the group, they decided to heed her words, slinging their rifles over their backs until they magnetically locked to the latches on their backs. 

The group of mercenaries quickly began to file out of the hanger, the turian who had first began to worry stopped and turned towards Brill. “Who are you, human?”

Brill grinned, folding her arms across her chest. “If Aria’s men ask, just tell them ‘The Thief’ convinced you to be smart. That’s my name, the Thief.” The turian gave her a curious look, but shrugged and turned away to follow his compatriots. Brill nodded to herself, pleased with her success. Not only will Aria not know that it was her to convince them and protect Cerberus, but her alias will spread even more through the station. Only time will tell how much reputation will give her.

Brill turned towards the exit, glancing over a the Cerberus ship only momentarily. She wasn’t wrong, Cerberus was bound to fuck up eventually. They were almost notorious for experiments going wrong. Not to mention the fact that it was a group filled with alien haters docking on a station almost entirely comprised of aliens, nothing good would come of this that was for sure. Brill nodded, making her way out of the dock rather quickly before Cerberus or Aria’s men showed up. Just before she exited, she stopped and turned, quickly jogging over the the remnants of the assault rifle she had smashed against the wall. Brill bent down, snatching up the heat sink and pocketing it before scooping up the rest of the debris and exiting the hanger once more. If those mercenaries didn’t get caught by Aria’s men, it was probably best to leave no evidence that there was someone other than Cerberus in the dock. As for the heat sink, it would help her if she ever got her hand on a gun again.

Brill carefully made her way down the halls until she made it to the car port with no guards in sight, better outcome compared to yesterday. As soon as she was sure the coast was clear, she dumped the bundle of shattered assault rifle over the edge of the sky lot and watched it fall down the abyss that was the station. 

”Well….” Brill mumbled, turning on her heel as she climbed into a taxi. What was there still left to do? The possible raid was dealt with, there was bound to be something else today for her to handle. As if on queue, her omni-tool beeped. Nova, no doubt. Brill opened her omni-tool, sitting in the still taxi as she glanced over the message.

It was the shipping manifest, that was for sure, but it was obvious that nothing on the list made any sense. Some of it was medical supplies, but not the conventional supplies, everything on the list looked more like made up words rather than actual items. Cerberus was covering what was really in the ships by giving them fake ass names. Clever, almost. The medical supplies were the only things that Brill believed to be true, everything else had to be secret things that they were picking up from the Omega 4 Relay and transporting to some Cerberus headquarters. Whatever was on the other side of the relay… it definitely wasn’t the best thing to have on the station, even for a few minutes. What did they say was on the other side of that relay again?

Brill closed her omni-tool and fired up the taxi, punching in coordinates as it lifted into the air. With the taxi flying, Brill reopened her omni-tool and quickly replied to Nova. _Meet me near the Blue Suns base._ Risky, but worth it. Brill sent the message and closed her omni-tool, looking out the window to watch the skyline pass by. Omega had its perks, she had to admit.

As soon as the taxi landed and Brill stepped out into the district, her omni-tool flared up with the notification of Nova’s response. Brill took a quick glance, frowning at Nova’s one worded reply ‘WHAT’, how could she not expect that response? Walking up towards the Blue Suns, you usually had a death wish, but considering the what Brill had done to the Blood Pack, maybe she had a death wish. Brill answered back to Nova, angrily insisting that she get her ass here. Nova’s lack of a response made Brill assume the turian was now on her way. In the meantime, Brill needed to keep out of sight until her counterpart arrived, the last thing she wanted was to be caught by the Blue Suns before she planned out what she had in mind.

It took some time for Nova to finally arrive, climbing out of her own taxi into the sky lot. Seeing the turian, Brill stepped out of the shadows, giving Nova a small salute.

”Good day! Ready for some fun?” Brill asked, smirking at Nova’s agitated expression.

”Can I ask, what are we doing here? Isn’t mercenary territory the last place you want to be?” Nova asked, folding her arms across her breast plate.

Brill shrugged in response. “I fucked around with the Blood Pack, not the Blue Suns, they have no reason to be pissed at me. In fact, they’d probably give me a slap on the shoulder for dirtying up the Pack. Anyways, we have a message to deliver to the Blue Suns anyways. We need to find a hardline into their servers in their headquarters. I want to transmit a vocal message to them so that everyone in there can hear it.” She said happily, but Nova’s expression didn’t change.

”Why would I want to do that?” Nova asked, from her demeanor, it was probably the last thing she wanted to do.

”Where’s your sense of adventure, Nova? Its not going to be too bad. I’m just giving them some well needed advice.” 

One of Nova’s mandibles twitched. “Are you going to advise them to ‘fuck off’?” 

Brill rolled her eyes. “Not quite. Come on, just help me out here, we’re suppose to be partners remember?” 

Nova held up her hand, laying her palm flat in front of Brill, but the human stood still, staring at the open palmed hand. “I recall payment?” Nova said snidely. 

”Couple days into this enterprise and you think I already have money? You give me too much credit. You must think I sleep in some cushy bed or something, or at least have my own place.” Brill said smugly.

”I would have figured at least a bed.” Nova commented.

Brill chuckled. “As if. The only way I sleep on a bed is if I offer my sexual prowls to someone.” She said, to make her point, she ran a hand up the side of her leg and shook her butt a little.

”I recall Amvius saying you had nothing of the sort.” Nova replied, grinning.

Brill sighed and rolled her eyes. “That coming from a guy I slept with a bit.... Quite a bit actually. Doesn’t matter, just do me this solid please.” Brill begged, clapping her hands together almost as if in prayer.

”Solid? Is it liquid right now? What do you mean?” 

Brill rolled her eyes and smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand. “Never mind that, just do this for me and I’ll make sure I pay you later.” She said frantically, hard to remember turians don’t understand human phrases.

”Fine.”

The duo found their way to the outside of the Blue Suns base, making sure to keep out of sight of the guards posted out front of the entrance. Luckily, there was no guard posted near the server box on the outside, it was a bit of a ways away from the main entrance, giving them the privacy they needed. Brill kept a look out while Nova bent down in front of the box, using her omni-tool to open the box and slowly begin the hack into the hardline. 

Unlike most of Omega’s systems, the majority of the mercenary groups kept their servers on a hardline, preventing any would be hacker from getting into their systems. The precaution made it so that a hacker would have to be right outside the the base to get into their main systems, it gave anyone a disadvantage, as they would be easy to track down and apprehend should anyone try to hack their servers. One disadvantage that Brill and Nova had at the moment. From Brill’s calculations, they could hack in undetected easily, it was delivering the message that would tip off there location, luckily it would be a quick enough message that they would be in an out before the Blue Suns closed in on them.

Of course… Brill wasn’t the best at math.

”Got it.” Nova opened the server box, pulling a holographic wiring from her omni-tool and latching it to one of the many wires inside the box. “No video I take it?”

Brill glanced over her shoulder at Nova as she kept watch. “No, stick to verbal only. Don’t want them knowing my face and recognizing me later.”

”Alright… I’m in.”

_Blue Suns base…_

”Tell those assholes, next time they want to disobey an order, to jump off the station before they think that’s a good idea.” Darner Vosque, the leader of the Blue Suns and a human, glanced at his right hand men that cowered slightly at the vocalization of their failure. “Its a fucking ship that’s unguarded, do what you’re told and fucking raid it!” One of his men opened their mouth to speak but the sudden sound of static that filled the entirety of their headquarters stopped them all dead.

”Greetings mortals.” A voice boomed over their intercoms, it sounded similar to a child faking a very deep commanding voice.

”Who the fuck is that? Where is that coming from?!” Darner demanded, glancing around the base.

”Sorry, I really wanted to do that.” The voice apologized, returning to a normal voice, now it sounded more like a woman with slightly deeper voice than normal. “Before you guys go frantic, running around trying to find where I hacked into your systems… I should advise you.”

Darner spun around towards his men, stabbing a finger in their direction. “Find the source of the hack!”

”I’m quite aware of your recent attempts to raid Cerberus ships. You will be quite pleased that I convinced your men that, that’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard in my life. And I’ve heard a lot of shit in my day.” The voice cleared their throat. “Its probably up there with the Blood Pack deciding to steal from Aria T’loak. The only difference between the Pack and you, is that I’m not going to tell the Queen of Omega just how stupid you guys are. I’m giving you a chance to change your mind rather than try and raid the ships again.” At the comment, Darner froze, looking towards the ceiling and squinting his eyes, they had all heard about what happened with the Blood Pack. “Just so you know, I am the Thief, and I highly suggest you don’t try raiding Cerberus ships anymore. You may think the Queen won’t find out, but I’ll be more than happy to tell her the truth if you guys decide to making the biggest fucking mistake of your life. Just saying. Stop being whiny bitches and we’ll get through this okay, we might even be friends you and I. In the meantime, I suggest you tell your men to stop trying to trace the hack because I’ll be long gone by the time you get out here and find me. I’m a bit sneaky you see.” Darner spun towards the entrance, yelling and pointing at his men to head outside. “They don’t call me the Thief for nothing.” 

By the time The Blue Suns got outside and run to the server connection, the Thief was gone, all that remained was the broken server box, its door idly swinging open from the Theif’s quick departure. Despite Darner’s reserve, he told his men to instead forget the raids on the Cerberus ships, and see what they could do about finding this so called… Thief. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Riot's Note:** It took me forever to finally sit down and write chapter 6. Granted, I'm not too happy with it because it took so long and its not nearly as long as the other chapters. Oh well, it ended on a note that I was happy with.


	8. Chapter 8

”WHY DID I AGREE TO WORK WITH YOU?”

Brill couldn’t help but smile, Nova had continued to ask that for a _long_ while, and by the looks of it, she had yet to figure out why. She couldn’t see the turian from where she was crouched behind a… flower bed? That was probably the best thing to call it, except there was nothing growing in what should be a flower bed, there was just chunks of garbage burning in the middle of it. It was the best warm spot to be used for cover, she could crouch behind it for hours if it wasn’t for a krogan’s tendency to rush through the middle of the combat wielding a shotgun. 

Why did krogans insist on doing that anyways? Always led to them dying or just a major head injury, on the korgan’s part. Well… scratch that, a headache for some at least. Brill rubbed her temple, staying behind her cover while Nova did her best to lay down sniper fire on the sons of bitches. They always showed up at the most inconvenient times. Speaking of head injuries.

Brill popped her head up above her cover, catching sight of a vorcha not far off, which quickly fired at her; making Brill duck back down. “If you don’t kill more of them, you won’t be working with me for very long!”

The notion made Nova lower her rifle for a second, hoping she could possibly let it be. No longer work for Brill… how relaxing and less stressful it would be.

”In this scenario, YOU’D BE DEAD TOO!” Brill shouted again, making Nova groan and bring up her rifle once more, firing upon the approaching krogans. 

It didn’t take long for the firefight to die down, the krogans eventually growing brains and dispersing back into the woodwork, no longer caring that the duo was in their streets. They’d rather stay alive than risk losing more able-bodied idiot krogans to an obvious slaughter committed by two people. Made Brill grin, considering just the two of them scared the crap out of some Blood Pack idiots.

The encounters were few and far between, very little Blood Pack recognizing Brill for who she was and attacking, any others would choose to ignore her or were too brain dead to recognize. When times like that came, when Brill got attacked, she was always accompanied by Nova, something she tried her best to ensure when she was up and about. Leave it to the Blood Pack to hold a grudge. A month had passed since their stunt at the Blue Suns base, the mysterious person known as the Thief already making a name for herself throughout Omega. Other than the Blood Pack knowing it was Brill, things were going smoothly. People were paying credits to the Thief for information about drug runs and insider information on other mercenary groups which Brill easily exploited, and Nova hacked the information away. Transactions of money and information was doing through dead drops, specific locations where the information or money was left and then retrieved, keeping Brill’s identity hidden. 

At the very least, Nova was finally getting paid. 

Brill dusted herself off as she jogged her way back to Nova, huffing a sigh at the issue of ballsy krogans who kept trying to prove something. “See? That wasn’t too bad now was it?”

Nova’s expression remained placid at Brill’s comment, her eyes narrowing at the small human. “You don’t pay me enough to deal with you.”

Brill rolled her eyes, shrugging. “Sorry, you’re not quite entitled to a raise, after a year of employment maybe we can revisit the ‘my life is endangered raise’. Sound good?” She waved a slight hand at the comment.

”Of course.” Nova rolled her eyes right back, tucking her sniper rifle away safely onto her back with a magnetic click. “Why is it that we seem to always get attacked when we’re just walking around?”

”No idea.” Brill shoved her hands into her pockets and shrugged. “They probably have a grudge against us for what we’ve been doing.” One truth, one lie. “I can find my way safely back to my hideaway, you should get along too before they come back with reinforcements.” She waved her hand, palm down as she ushered Nova away.

Despite their increasing time spent working together, Brill had deemed it necessarily to leave out some tid bits, especially the fact of how just in deep she was with the Blood Pack. The close call she had a few months back, how she had stolen for them for about a year, and the fact that Brill had been the one to personally confess the crime to Aria. No, anything having to do with interacting with Aria T’loak wasn’t mentioned at all. As far as Nova knew, they just did their jobs by simply bypassing her systems and going unnoticed, which they were doing, except the fact that Brill was sleeping with the fucking Queen of Omega.

Or at least she was. The thought made Brill frown, drawing in Nova’s unwanted curious expression which Brill quickly waved away. “Will you get out of here?! We don’t always have to meet face to face whenever we do things. Message me if you find anything interesting on the comm channels.” Brill shouldered past Nova, heading for the nearest access hatch she knew to get back to the maintenance tunnels. 

Nova let her go, sighing, and going her own direction as well. The month of business had been kind, getting going was a bit of an issue, as it were. Once Brill had done the outlandish act that was putting her name out there, it became easier to get work, but it took awhile before that became profit. Unfortunately for Brill, the past month was also filled the continuously locked door to Aria’s apartment, the clear indicator that Brill wasn’t welcome. It wasn’t a big deal, until Brill had realized she needed some other place to sleep, which meant nowhere. She eventually found refuge from the hazards of sleeping in alleyways to finding a small hole to sleep in within the maintenance shafts themselves. It was the closest semblance to a home Brill had in… a very long time.

Considering a month had gone by with no sign of Aria unlocking the door, Brill decided to just call it, heading instead for the access hatch to her little hole she called home. Better than nothing. She kept her hands in her pockets as she walked until a beep came to her omni-tool. Brill pulled her hands from her pockets and reached for the bracelet on the wrist.

The light above shot out, glass sprinkling down above Brill, the whole area suddenly engulfed in darkness. Brill’s hands flew up, covering her head from the falling shards, her eyes closed tightly. She quickly opened her eyes and lowered her hands to her sides, glancing around the darkness but failing to see anything. Something had blown out the lights, that much was obvious, the sound of the shot ringing in Brill’s ears as she frantically tried to make out something in the darkness. It couldn’t be the Blood Pack again, this was too soon for another attack on her.

Brill’s breath hitched in her throat, her chest tightening as the darkness almost descended on her, grabbing at her throat. Shallow breaths escaped from her lips as pain slowly found its way back to her thigh, as if the blade remained. Her ears even made her believe she could feel the hissing of the vorcha.

”Give us all your credits!” A voice shouted, Brill didn’t have to see to know there was a gun pointed at her, the same one that probably shot out the light. The ring of the voice gave off that it was a turian, but Brill refused to move. In fact, her body refused to respond, her mind went blank, filled with the sting of her thigh where the knife had been. “I said give us all your credits!”

”Bitch is fucking scared!” A human. 

The barrel of a gun pressed itself against her back, a shiver running up Brill’s spine. Her senses suddenly found her fingers, balling her hands into fists, her eyes slowly closing as she tried to steady her breathing. 

”Don’t make me shoot you, bitch. Just give us the credits.” There was no saying how many there really was, all she had heard was two different voices, but there could be more. It was a chance she had to take.

With her eyes still closed, Brill kept her focus on the barrel of the gun resting against her back. The tingling of her biotics slowly rising, making the hairs on the back of her neck rise to the sensation. 

The biotic explosion that ensues throws the turian with the gun flying backwards. It’s a brief and sudden enough burst of biotics that causes Brill’s ears to pop and throw off the gun that was pressed against her, but her hearing gave there the exact answer that only one of them got hit by the explosion, leaving the one other she knew still available to strike.

”Bitch is a Biotic!” Another person shouted, something hard hit Brill in the back of the head, making her crumple to the floor, catching herself with her hands.

It was still too dark to see anything, but Brill could feel the others around her, and the swift kick to her stomach that followed. The two remaining people wailed on her, kicking and punching as Brill frantically covered her head with her arms to fend off the worst of the beatings, still unable to see any of her assailants as they attacked her. The darkness still lingered, still clutched at her throat, leaving her in a state of panic even as the group hit her.

The sudden burst of biotics hit Brill like a pile of bricks, making her ears ring loudly, tendrils of energy licking at her exposed skin making it tingle. A biotic jump. She heard the bodies of her assailants land several feet back from where she lay on the ground, curled up defensively. Brill slowly opened her eyes, peering through her fingers, catching a figure standing over her from the light of the biotic remnants shimmering around the figure.

”Aria?” 

And the lights in Brill’s vision faded once more.

\-----

The pain in her leg had faded, but the darkness was still there, unable to will her body to wake, her mind still lingering on the sensations around her. The last thing she clearly remembered seeing was the brief image of the asari standing over her, having biotic jumped into the fray and throwing off Brill’s attackers, but that was all. It was probably the blow to the head, following by the continuous assault that made Brill fall unconscious. Although, at this point she preferred to stay unconscious, not wanting to face the fact that, in the darkness, she had frozen in fear. Her body was unresponsive to waking, but despite this her mind was still alert to the fact that her rescuer had picked her up and carried her somewhere. Briefly, she had felt the sensation of water against her skin, but it was very brief and ended with the silky feel of fabric beneath her. Beyond that, there was nothing, no sensations, not even sounds reached Brill’s subconscious as she remained on the pillow clouds that was most likely a bed.

The sensation of waking came back slowly, like the rest of Brill’s body had the calm realization it needed to breathe. Her eyes slowly opening with a calm intake of breath, her eyes adjusting to the low light of the room; the familiar room. That’s when the bodily aches hit her, a loud groan slipped from her lips, her whole body curling upwards as her hurt limbs screamed in pain, the bruise at the back of her head making itself known. Her hands slowly found its way to her head as she groaned, trying to coax the pain away as her fingers found her way into her damp hair. 

Brill let herself roll onto her side on the bed, still groaning even as the bruise on her head lessened to an agonizing eb. Her sides burned from the pain of the continuous kicks to her ribs, luckily the pain told her there weren’t any broken, it would have hurt worse if there was. The pain at her head having come to a dull throb, Brill ceased her squirms and let her body relax on the soft bed, a hand slowly lowering to rest on her side while another lingered down to her thigh, feeling the old wound. It wasn’t fresh, but back there, in the dark, it had felt so real like her new assailants had purposely stabbed another blade into her thigh; as if they had known.

Brill carefully sat up, propping herself up on her elbow enough just to peer down at her leg. Even from the feel of her hand, she was still skeptical, but the sign of no blood on her pants answered it for her. A small sign escaped her lips as Brill let her fall back down onto the bed, her body still screaming in protest to the exertion. Pain, she could deal with, she had been through hell and back plenty of times when the Blood Pack deemed it necessary, this was nothing. She had seen much worse than this.

The sound of the bedroom door opening made Brill’s head shoot back up from its relaxation, only a small grunt escaping her when her limbs protested. The figure that emerged through the door answered the question that Brill had on her mind, but refused to answer the other.

Why?

Aria T’loak made her way to the bed, keeping her eyes focused on where she was going rather than looking to Brill, barely acknowledging her presence or the fact that she was now awake. Brill kept her mouth sealed, calmly watching the asari as she sat on the edge of the bed next to Brill and opened her omni-tool on her wrist. It took only a brief moment for Aria to pull up what she was looking for, turning her attention to Brill, but still refusing to look at her in the eye. Instead, Aria gently pushed Brill, making her roll onto her back and gently moving her hand away from her side before Aria pressed her the palm of her own hand there. The omni-tool glowed a little brighter, the sudden relief from the medi-gel making Brill sigh in exasperation, her whole-body slumping and becoming at ease with the ebbing of pain. Medi-gel was such a miracle drug, instantly drawing away Brill’s pain upon injection from Aria’s omni-tool. The question as to why Aria had saved her still lingered on Brill’s mind however, even as she let the drug soothe the pain and closed her eyes to bask in it.

Aria removed her hand from Brill’s side and closed her omni-tool. Her eyes returned, only to stare at the edge of the bed, her brow lowered in what resembled anger and possibly even worry. The silence made Brill open one eye to look at Aria, her mouth scrunched to one side with confusion on what to do, much less what to say.

”Uh….” Brill began, but Aria’s held up hand made her cease whatever she was going to spill from her mouth, if were even words. 

The silence fell between them once more before Aria finally lowered her hand and turned slightly, fishing something from her side. She turned back, holding out whatever rested in her hand. Brill’s eyes widened as she recognized her omni-tool bracelet resting in the palm of the asari’s hand. She quickly sat up and snatched the omni-tool from Aria’s hand, clicking it to her wrist and opening up the interface to make sure it wasn’t tampered with.

”Your security is impressive.” Aria spoke, drawing Brill’s narrowed eyes away from her omni-tool. “Thief.” Aria’s blue eyes locking with Brill’s own brown, the realization quickly dawns on her, Brill’s eyes widening. 

”What did you-.” Brill isn’t able to finish as Aria holds up her hand again to silence Brill.

”There’s not many short dumbass humans with dark skin out there who would call themselves something so ridiculous.” Aria folded a leg over the other, crossing her arms over her chest and sighing. “Couldn’t break into your damn omni-tool to confirm.”

”Wait.” Brill closed her omni-tool, staring at the bracelet for a moment before looking back at Aria, her lips turning into a scowl. “You were just fucking guessing to see how I’d react.”

”If the description of the _Thief_ wasn’t enough for that.” Aria sighed, closing her eyes briefly as she dipped her head, facing the wall parallel to the bed. “I suppose I should thank you then.”

One of Brill’s brows perked up at the statement, grinning slightly. “I thought we agreed you didn’t have to thank me for that?” She replied coyly.

Aria turned back sharply, fisting Brill’s collar angrily. “Not for that you ass.” Her grip tightened on Brill’s collar before she finally let go. “You’ve been keeping the mercenary groups off the Cerberus ships using my docks. I had heard wind they were all considering raiding those ships, but then.” She unrolled her hand from its fist, simulating a puff of air. “Nothing. Next thing I hear is shit about a Thief of Omega who steals information, and how this ballsy Thief convinced all the mercenary groups to back off my clients and instead go after one another.” Aria leaned back. “That’s why you were at the docks before.”

Brill shrugged, sitting up a little more and clearing off the wrinkles on her collar from Aria’s hand. “I can neither confirm or deny that may have been the reason.” The response made Aria glare back at her, Brill instead looked away from the glaring eyes. “Does this make us even then? I bitch at the mercenary groups for you and you save me?”

”I _had_ thought you could take care of yourself.” Aria remarked, the statement making Brill flinch and look away, her brow lowering angrily. It probably wasn’t Aria’s intention to jab her like that, but the fact that she had gone frozen just because it was dark. At what point did it suddenly become her enemy?

” _Fuck_ you.” Brill started to roll herself to the opposite of the bed, hoping to leave but Aria’s hand caught her wrist, pulling her back and pinning her arm the bed. “Stop it.” Aria caught her other wrist, pinning both of Brill’s arms to the bed on either side of her. Aria scooted herself more on to the bed, pinning Brill beneath her, straddling her legs between her own to keep the human secure. “Get the fuck off me!” Brill strained her arms against Aria’s hands, the asari remaining placid as Brill struggled to free herself. 

”Is that why you scream at night?” Aria demanded, but Brill turned her head away, pressing the side of her face into the bed to ignore the question. “Answer me.”

The whites of Aria’s slowly filled with darkness, her eyes swallowed in pure black clouds. Brill’s head snapped back as realization struck her, she grit her teeth, feeling herself sink into the depths of the cushion of the bed. Her body braced itself for the mind meld, her face contorting in concentration as her hands balled into fists. 

A jolt struck Brill, her eyes snapping wider just briefly, a breath sucking quickly into her nose, the jolt unclenching itself as Brill released her hands from its fist. The jolt that struck Brill somehow flowing through her and suddenly releasing from her hands to Aria, the asari’s head jolting backwards just briefly, her eyes blink to normality, her mouth parted in amazement as she stared down at Brill who kept the steady look of concentration. 

”You.” Aria began, her grip on Brill’s wrists loosening but not moving, both remained unmoving, staring back at one another. Brill returning Aria’s look of amazement with her own of determination. “How did you do that?” Aria whispered.

”I have my ways.” Brill replied sternly. “Stay the fuck out of my head, got it?” Aria slowly pulled back, releasing Brill’s wrists and sitting back, still straddling Brill’s legs. Brill used the space to prop herself up by her elbows, her legs still beneath Aria, basically keeping her to the bed. “I told you about the Blood Pack’s attempt on my life. It…” Brill looked away briefly, biting her lip. “It wasn’t pleasant.” She turned back to Aria, her eyes resting on a buckle of the asari’s jump suit. “They nearly killed me, but I got away with my life and just a… stab wound to my leg. They caught me when I was alone, in the dark and couldn’t see my attacker.” She raised a hand, hovering above the first buckle of Aria’s jump suit, where the skin was visible between the parting of the suit. She let a finger gently rest against Aria’s skin, letting it drag itself slowly down Aria’s skin to where the buckle sat. “When those fuckers blew out the light… I thought I was back in that moment and, like a dumbass, I froze.” Brill let her hand drop from its place, looking up at Aria’s expression to catch the asari run her tongue briefly against her bottom lip. Brill raised a curious brow at the action, surprised to see it, but it had been a month. 

Aria’s suddenly narrowed at Brill’s expression and the smirk playing at her lips, she quickly put a hand on the human’s chest and forced her back down onto the bed. “You forget, Brill, you just got the shit kicked out of you.” Aria spoke, swinging her leg off Brill to sit at the edge of the bed once more. “You need to rest.” She sighed, closing her eyes briefly before gazing back at Brill. “I…” She bit her lip. “Apologize for trying to invade your mind like that. I won’t do it again.” She quickly looked away, Brill’s eyes widening in surprise to the apology. “You can keep your secrets, _Thief_.” 

Brill sat up a little, still surprised by the statement. “You’ve never even… done it when we…. How and why?”

Aria shook her head. “I don’t find it necessary or realistic. The only times I have was to extract information, never for pleasure, I find it more useful to get my way. The ability to flay someone’s mind with my own has its advantages, but…” She cocked her head as she glanced to her side to look at Brill. “I’ve never had anyone be able to reject it. You, somehow, keep surprising me.” Aria sat up from the bed, straightening her vest as she tried to regain her Queen like composure. “You’re welcome to rest here until you are able. I have my own matters to attend to since my mysterious right-hand assailant isn’t available.” She nodded at Brill’s direction. “If you’re still here when I return… we’ll talk about these.” She hesitated. “These arrangements with you as this _Thief of Omega_.”

Brill perked up at that, looking interested in the statement. “Will that be before or after sex?”

Aria didn’t even flinch at the question, instead casting a small glance over her shoulder a Brill, as if she was considering the question. She snapped her head away, turning for the door. “After.” She stated plainly and she stridden towards the bedroom door.

”I’ll be waiting.” Brill relaxed back onto the bed, bending her arms above her head and resting her hands against the back of her neck. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Riot's Note:** Hopefully it won't be as long of a wait til I get the next chapter out. I need to do some researching because we are nearing the point where we run into the Omega DLC that occurs in Mass Effect 3 (or at least the lead into portion when Omega falls). It may take some time to get the info I need but when I get what I need I'll dive head into the Chapter with all that juicy stuff. If there's any questions, please ask and I enjoy feedback. Thanks for reading.


	9. Chapter 9

It didn’t take long for Brill’s bruised body to heal, recuperating enough for her to leave the confines of Aria’s apartment with a mutual understanding between the two of them. It took awhile to finally get to the conversation, but they arrived at it, nonetheless. It was basically the same agreement, with the added stipulation not to fuck with Aria’s shit, which was an obvious matter. Although, with the added part that Brill could monitor the movement of the mercenary groups she was ‘ordered’ to continuously monitor and help keep them in line _internally_. If Aria could profit with the Cerberus supply line, it was basically up to Brill or the Thief to keep the mercenaries from doing something as foolish as fucking that up. Despite the initial warning, the temptation for them to loot the docked ships was real and constant; the amount of idiots that happened to be a mercenary was never in short supply.

On the point of Brill wondering to Aria’s territory, well that turned into a restricted thing, Brill wasn’t allowed to move on her own without Aria’s say so. Something Brill wasn’t too pleased about but considering the requests Brill asked for and Aria had followed, it only seemed fair. Brill kept Nova’s participation separate, considering the intensity of her security on her omni-tool, Aria concluded it was Brill alone. The less Nova was seen to be involved the better, if anything went to shit, it would all be blamed on Brill.

Brill found her way easily back to her hole in the wall she called home, and settled in to go through what had happened the past few days. Her hole in the wall, was actually a housing for a large cooling fan, although from the looks of things the fan had stopped running long ago, two of its four wings having snapped off and broken into pieces at some point in time, making the fan break down completely. When she found the housing, Brill cleaned the remnants of the two broken wings out and tidied up the area, calling it suitable enough to live in, considering how small she was, she didn’t need much room anyways. Not like she planned on having guests… ever.

Brill settled down onto her small cot she called a bed, folding her legs across one another as she opened her omni-tool. During her recuperation time and… the following enjoyable sessions of relaxation, she had received a few messages from Nova that she… had chosen to ignore because of _reasons_.

A frown found its way to Brill’s lips as she studied the messages, taking in the fact that she probably should have answered them. The first few was just general information about what was going on, proceeded by messages asking for a check in and the last few were left with something akin to ‘where the fuck are you’ type messages.

She quickly keyed in a message back to Nova, stating she was fine and had to go dark for a little while. It would suffice, if Nova still got paid, she tended to not ask a lot of questions, they both had their own secrets after all. 

Brill closed the omni-tool, sighing as she ran a hand through her hair. She stopped, her hand still tangled in her hair as she stared at her folded legs. Despite the time that had passed, she still never really got an answer from Aria as to why… why Aria had some rushing in to save her that day. It wasn’t entirely like Brill was going to die in that scenario, robbed maybe but they most likely weren’t going to kill her. Brill slowly raised her head, letting her hand fall from her hair as she stared at the opposite wall, her arms resting on her knees, biting the inside of her lip as she thought. Not like having an actual adult conversation was possible, fuck being an adult.

”Keelah.” Brill murmured, flinging herself back until her back collided on to the relative softness of the cot, her eyes closed in thought. The word she had murmured struck her, making Brill smirk and chuckle. Idly Brill’s hand ventured down to the pocket of her pants and fiddled inside until her fingers caught the prize. She pulled her hand out of her pocket and let the pendant in her fingers slide free, her fingers grabbing the chain just before it dropped, the pendant at the end dangling in front of her face.

It was a crude pendant, made from a small round stone, flattened and etched with an imagine on one side. The years that had passed made the imagine barely visible, but Brill could still remember the small etches and curves that had once been fresh on the stone. She tilted her head to the side, grabbing the small pendant between her thumb and index finger with her free hand. Athame, she could remember the name. It was the faded etchings of an asari named Athame that became proclaimed as a goddess long ago. Brill wasn’t clear on the teachings of Athame, but knew the asari still looked to her for protection in dark times.

Dark times.

Brill quickly sat up, holding the chain open with both hands as she slipped the necklace over her head. It was a stupid idea, however. Brill looked down at the necklace as it hung, grasping the pendant with her fingers once more to study the faded etchings. It gave her a familiar comfort to wear it again. 

Brill’s lips curled inwards as she stared at the pendant, a bit bewildered and… embarrassed even though she was alone. The fact that the stupid idea that a pendant of an old goddess could potentially protect her. Brill quickly glanced away from the pendant and shoved it beneath her shirt, still keeping it on despite her childish embarrassment.

Back to work.

\------

Resolving things with Nova was easy albeit annoying at first, mostly with her insistent whining that if they were going to work together _communication_ was key. Brill waved it off and set to work picking up the recent dead drops and dropping off what was promised. This time, work went by smoothly with no hiccups like a few days prior. If there had been, Brill doubted her body had healed enough to fight back effectively with her biotics, and Nova didn’t need to know what had happened.

Work went by smoothly after that, Nova not questioning anything else but Brill had at least agreed to let Nova when she made it somewhere safe after they split, out of fear that a cease of contact again. No big deal, it was something Brill could agree with. Who knew how many more times Aria would suddenly explode out of nowhere to save the day? Probably never again.

Nova and Brill departed from each other once more, Brill making her way to Aria’s apartment rather than her hole in a wall. From what had been discussed previously with Aria, she doubted the asari would go back to locking the door, out of courtesy to her strange unlikely partner. By partner, Brill laughed, she meant someone to help keep the gangs focused on each other rather than on touching Aria’s shit. Not to mention the chance to rest in an actual bed or sit in a god damn couch was nice, which Brill took advantage of now that she was basically welcome to stay in the apartment. She knew her boundaries though. 

Brill made her way to Aria’s apartment, keeping her eye out around her as she approached the unlocked door. Seeing that the coast was clear, she entered and let the door hiss close behind her. Hearing the door finally close behind her made Brill breathe a sigh of relief, not by going unnoticed, but by entering the apartment period. It was interesting to consider… the amount of times she was in the apartment so far actually made her….

Feel safe.

Brill shook her head clear of the strange idea, stepping into the apartment, she removed her vest and laid it on the back of the couch, stretching her arms out above her head and listening to her back crack. Sleeping on an actual bed the past few days was definitely something her broken body wasn’t quite use to.

Brill settled down onto the couch, letting her back fall onto the soft cushions, letting her body lounge out across the cushions and letting the familiar of it take her, the smell alone of this place felt welcoming now. Once upon a time, this apartment use to be terrifying… on that first day. How long ago was that? Brill let her eyes drift close, dropping her forearms over her eyes as she lay there, wondering why these fucked up thoughts were wondering in.

Movement on the couch made Brill suddenly jerk up, her eyes shooting open as her hands grabbed the sides of the couch as she jerked upwards. The grogginess in her eyes hit her along with the realization that she had fallen asleep on the couch. A interesting smell hit her nose, drawing Brill’s sleepy attention to the coffee table where a plate of food sat, warmth coming off the food in small wispy waves as well as the smell. It looked like a…. steak? Brill tilted her head at the food before she finally looked behind her to see the asari sitting comfortably on the couch next to where Brill’s head had been. Aria sat rather calmly, a plate of food on her lap, her full attention on the food rather than the confused human next to her.

Brill slowly turned herself on the couch, letting her feet find the floor to sit up properly. She still gave Aria a curious gaze, confused at the food and the fact that Aria was just sitting there, eating. Brill opened her mouth to speak.

”Brill.” The mention of her name made Brill instantly shut her mouth, obvious to the meaning that they weren’t playing any games, sarcasm was probably the worst thing to do right now. Aria kept her eyes on her own food, leaning forward to grab the plate off the coffee table and handing it to Brill. “Keep your mouth shut and just eat.” Brill let her hands fan out, grabbing the plate from Aria, staying silent and even more confused. “You need your strength.”

”W…why?” Brill hesitantly asked, her mind instantly flying to the concept of an all night fuck session, but she chose to not say it out loud.

Aria set her plate on the coffee table, rather forcefully, the ring of the plate against the table making Brill seal her mouth close and pull back slightly from the asari. Aria had her eyes closed, like she was trying to keep her temper. “As if you don’t have the idiotic idea that you can go through a day without eating.” She stated plainly.

Brill’s eyes widened at the statement, glancing down at the plate in her hands, the smell of it hitting her senses again and making her stomach growl. _She…_ Brill remained silent as she watched Aria take her plate back up and begin eating once more. She knew before Brill even did, that this whole day, Brill hadn’t even taken the time to eat anything. With the work to catch up on, Brill hadn’t even noticed the tiredness she felt could have been related to hunger. She had become so use to going days without food or limiting food consumption to once a day.

Brill slowly sat up, letting the plate rest on her lap, still not quite sure what to make of the situation, but she decided to go with it. The smell of the food reminding her body its lack of nutrition. A silence fell between the pair as they silently ate next to each other, Brill taking her time to eat out of fear of vomiting it all later. No comment was exchanged about the fact that Aria brought food for Brill to eat, after all, it could have just been coincidence. Yeah… that was all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Riot's Note:** Sorry, this one is relatively short and a bit calm. I couldn't get much out of me for this one but I figure its necessary since shit is about to hit the fan. Its a nice break from the usual chaos and action that tends to happen with Brill. Its like the... calm before the storm, if you will. I hope you all look forward... to what is to come. Til then.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _And so it begins._

The days had passed relatively calmly and quietly. The agreement between the Thief and the Queen helped Omega flow smoothly, despite the exceeding presence of Cerberus on the station, the mercenary groups remained somewhat docile. With the mercenary groups focused more on one another, the Queen’s business continued, renting ports on the station to Cerberus scientists, investigating what lay on the other side of the Omega 4 relay. No one on Omega really cared about what lay beyond the relay, but Cerberus seemed intent on researching it, using the station to help transport their research to Cerberus research stations. 

Even though the days had been calm, it still meant a lot of work for the Thief. With her reputation having quickly boomed, Brill received an onslaught of job requests, either information gathering or something as simple as tapping into a security feed in a rival merc base. Nova, Brill’s right-hand man, was very pleased with the increase in money, as they both were, although they both lived relatively humbly. Brill kept her home in the small space in the maintenance tunnels while Nova just got a new apartment. 

Despite Brill’s continuously living space, she found herself returning more and more to Aria’s apartment, every day the past few days in fact. After a while, she felt herself more comfortable at the apartment with the occasional company of the asari. The past few days had also made the Queen of Omega busy, with the calming of the mercenary groups, she had her own affairs to pay attention to. The few times Aria did show at the apartment was, in fact, very pleasant. 

Brill lay on the bed in Aria’s apartment, she was relaxing but also taking the time to filter through the couple requests she had still yet to skim. There was always the few that were too outlandish to pull off and others that were legitimate, it was always an issue to juggle through the requests to figure out what was possible and what wasn’t. Despite the slight frustration, it was oddly relaxing to scroll through the requests.

The door to the bedroom opened, Brill’s eyes still on the screen of her omni-tool, but she could feel the asari’s presence enter the room. Brill’s focus shifted past her omni-tool screen, eyeing the asari who had just entered, standing at the foot of the bed with her hands on her hips. From the angle Brill lay, she could only see the asari’s head and shoulders, her arm blocking anything more. She lifted her arm up, eyeing what Aria was wearing. 

Instead of the usual jumpsuit Aria always wore, she instead wore a slim fitting white dress. The top of the dress being cut just at her shoulders, leaving her forearms bare to her elbows where she wore long fingerless gloves. The real eye part was where the white dress opened in the middle, revealing what could have been a black tank top, except the many wholes on the inner shirt that descended to Aria’s abdomen. An opening just above Aria’s chest, encompassing her cleavage, another just below that encompassing her navel and two more right above her abdomen on either side where her hips curved. 

”Are you wearing that just for me?” Brill asked sweetly, finally closing her omni-tool and sitting up to enjoy the view of the nicely dressed asari.

Aria didn’t answer although her facial expression said enough. She placed a knee on the foot of the bed, using it to lift herself up until she was crawling across to Brill. Brill found herself slowly lying back down on the bed as Aria made her ascent, one leg between Brill’s. Brill couldn’t help but grin at the sight of the asari looming over her. 

”Being more assertive, are we?” Brill asked coyly, reaching up to run a finger down Aria’s neck. Brill’s hand was quickly caught, though, by Aria and she quickly pinned the hand above Brill’s head, Brill’s remaining free hand quickly followed the other. The grin remained on Brill’s lips, despite the sudden change of positions, her only lightly squirming beneath Aria.

”I like a change of pace.” Aria remarked, her eyes becoming hooded as she gazed down at Brill. “What do you say?” The seductive playful tone in Aria’s voice and her subtle lick of her lips made Brill smile slightly, her teeth barely showing from beneath her lips.

”You are…” Brill wiggled slightly beneath Aria, feeling the presence of Aria’s knee placed comfortably between her legs. “You do make a convincing argument.”

Aria lowered herself, their bodies pressing against one another lightly, her lips just inches away from Brill’s. “I try.” 

The parts of Aria’s skin that touched Brill now became increasingly obvious, she could feel her heart thumbing with excitement in her chest. Both have the yearning, their lips just a breath away from one another’s, Aria toying lightly with the distance. Their lips gently touched, Brill and Aria’s eyes having closed at the moment, the soft delicate touch before the-.

The sound of Brill’s omni-tool ringing blared loudly in the room, her wrist lighting up from the incoming call. Brill took a deep breath, feeling Aria pull away as well as the tension that had just grown. Brill kept her eyes closed, heaving a heavy sigh before opening her eyes to look at Aria’s questioning gaze.

”Are you going to answer that?” Aria asked.

Brill lightly shrugged at the asari, looking innocent. “I really should.” A silence settled between them, besides the loud ringing, before Aria groaned loudly and rolled off Brill. She finally sat up and answered the call. “Can this wait?”

”We got a problem.” Nova’s voice coming clear through the omni-tool as well as how serious the problem was from the tone of her voice. 

Brill instantly straitened up, swinging her legs off the bed. “What is it?” She demanded. 

”I got wind of someone planning on raiding a Cerberus ship that docked recently. Except…” Nova grew quiet.

”What?”

”Something’s happening. The security cameras got cut out, but _something_ came out of that ship.” Nova said. As the turian spoke, Brill cast a glance at Aria who was now up and off the bed, the serious face of the Queen having returned to her features. 

Brill hopped off the bed and was heading out the bedroom, Aria right behind her. “Sit tight, Nova. I’ll rendezvous with you in 5 minutes, stay safe.” Brill quickly replied, hurrying out the apartment with Aria beside her. It didn’t matter who saw them leave the apartment now, whatever was happening was… disturbing and had to be investigated right away. 

”Roger that.” The affirmative came through Brill’s omni-tool just before she shut it down and glanced at Aria. 

The Queen of Omega looked back at Brill, her brow lowering. “I’ll handle this, you deal with yours.” Aria replied, her voice stern and she quickly turned away, taking long strides as she left. 

”Good luck!” Brill called worryingly, making Aria suddenly halt. 

The asari glanced over her shoulder briefly, her eyes briefly catching Brill’s. “You too.” And she was gone. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Regrouping with Nova wasn’t an issue, they had preplanned a rendezvous point in the event of an emergency. The point was exactly where Brill was headed, but it was getting there that was becoming an issue. In a few minutes after the call from Nova and leaving the apartment, the station was turning into chaos, and screams were echoing throughout the entirety of the station. The pipes and metal walls almost shaking from the echoing of screams and gun fire. Brill’s eyes remained wide as she ran down corridors and down ladders, hearing the distant screams and gun shots as she made her way to the point. What the fuck was going on?

Surprisingly, the way to the rendezvous point was clear, the roads and alleyways completely devoid of life, if it wasn’t for the screaming and gun shots she would bet that Omega was empty. Except, Brill suddenly stopped, so close to the place where she would meet Nova when a blood curdling scream made her halt, her head glancing towards its origin just around the corner. The scream was too close for comfort. 

Brill took a step back, tilting her head in the direction of the scream, seeing if she could get a better look at what was going on. It looked like whatever it was came from just down a small alley around a corner. Brill tentatively made her way down the alley towards the corner, she didn’t have a gun on her, but she kept her instincts ready, just incase she needed to call on her biotics. Brill slowly made her way to the end of the wall, peering her head around it, her back against the wall as she looked around the corner. As she looked she could make out some sort of blue glowing light and a misshapen leg standing over a body on the ground. 

Something suddenly grabbed Brill from behind, a hand covering her mouth and pulling her into the shadows away from the corner. Brill frantically grabbed the arm that held her back, struggling for a split second before she caught eye of what belonged to the misshapen leg. From where she hid in the shadows, she could see the form of whatever it was. 

Whatever it was, hunched over had spikes running along its back, it’s back some sort of blue sac with spikes running along it. Its head seemed more alien than anything else, its eyes glowing blue with a hole rather than a nose, and instead of a mouth were strange pipes and tubes erupting out in different directions attached to parts of its chest, arm and other locations. Its right arm resembled that of a canon rather than a hand, electricity sparking blue a glowing blue circle in the palm of the thing’s hand. Even the legs of the creature had tubes connecting it together it almost seemed more machine than organic. 

There was only one, standing over the body of a salarian that lay on the ground. Its left hand holding the neck of the downed salarian, raising its weaponized right hand over the salarian’s face. The electricity sparking from it’s palm surged through and struck the salarian’s face, strings of the electricity striking the eyes but the majority of the pulse somehow forcing its way through the salarian’s mouth, making the body glow blue. 

Brill’s eyes remained wide, the hand over her mouth keeping her silent as she watched the event unfold. As if the creature was satisfied, it let go of the salarian, letting it fall back to the ground limp, but the electrical currents still flowing from its eyes and mouth. The creature stepped over the body, its cannon like hand at the ready as it glanced around itself. A distant scream caught its attention, the creature turning its head towards the source of the sound and sprinting in that direction. 

As the creature disappeared in the distance, the hand over Brill’s mouth slowly lowered, instead placing itself on her shoulder and slowly turning her. Brill remained silent from the sight that had just occurred, turning her head slightly to glance at who held her. The familiar sight of the turian caught her eyes, one of Nova’s talons pressed against her mandibles in a motion to remain silent. Nova lowered her hand and pointed back towards the body of the salarian, letting Brill slowly turn back to see.

Tubes and cords suddenly burst forth from the salarian’s mouth, slithering its way free from the mouth and frantically attaching itself around the salarian’s body. Wherever the tubes attached, the salarian’s body bubbled and engorged itself, the entirety of the body twisting and cracking, the sounds of bones breaking reaching even them from the distance. The blue tendrils of what looked like electricity surging through the body of the salarian until its leg twisted and cracked, taking a step and suddenly pulling the body up on its own. The torso of the body flew forward from the shift spikes erupting from the salarian’s back as it became bloated with a glowing blue sac. Brill’s eyes grew wide, her jaw dropping open as she wanted what was a salarian suddenly turn into the creature that was once standing over it. The transformation was almost seamless, happening in mere seconds before it completely turned into the creature and sprinted off in the direction its twin had went. 

Nova and Brill remained silent where they were, all remnants that the creatures were even there having gone off in the direction they had both ran. Nova gently tapped Brill’s shoulder with her talon, bringing the human’s attention back to reality. “We need to get off the streets.” Nova whispered, her voice urgent. 

Brill slowly nodded, still trying to swallow down what she had just witnessed. “Right.” She whispered back, shaking herself to try and clear the image. There was an entrance to the maintenance tunnels nearby, the best place for them to hide under the circumstances. Brill nodded the direction and they quickly left the safety of the shadows, skirting across the streets towards the entrance. 

Quickly crossing the deserted streets, Brill pressed herself against a wall, keeping herself sidled and sliding along the wall until she felt the familiar panel against her hand. She thumbed the panel, a latch suddenly springing upwards on the ground. Brill grabbed the latch and pulled a section of the floor up, revealing a ladder heading down. She motioned to Nova to descend, the turian’s mandibles twitching with curiosity as to where it led. 

”Should be secure down here.” Brill motioned. “Little dark.” Nova nodded and quickly stepped down the ladder, Brill following behind her, securing the hatch as she descended. Once Nova was clear of the ladder, Brill jumped off the rungs, landing gracefully on the ground next to the turian, a dim light against the wall greeting them and the sheer fact the tunnel was deserted and unused. “What the fuck was that?” Brill threw her arm in the direction they had just come from. 

Nova shook her head, pacing for a moment, scratching her talons against her scarred mandibles. “I’ve been intercepting Cerberus comms since I got wind of it. They’re calling them… Adjutants. From what I can pick up, they had a lab full of them on the other side of the Omega 4 Relay, they broke free and somehow found their way here.” Nova explained, stopping her pace to look back at Brill who stood bewildered. 

”FUCKING REAPER SHIT?!” Brill shouted, a sudden inhuman screech that echoed making her cover her mouth frantically, glancing up the ladder where the sound came from. She was positive whatever those fucking things were couldn’t figure out how to open the hatch, but she wasn’t going to sit still and wait to test the theory. Brill started to run, grabbing Nova’s arm as she did, jogging down the tunnels to get as far away as possible from where they had just seen them. “You have to be fucking kidding me.” 

Nova kept stride next to Brill, following the human through the tunnels as they kept distance away from the Adjutants. “Cerberus doesn’t have a good track record for experiments staying controlled. Whatever these things are, they’ve lost control of them. They must have escaped their enclosure.” She explained, glancing briefly behind her to make sure there was nothing following them. 

”Not only that.” Brill skidded to a stop, her hand clutching the wall to help her stop, glancing around a corner to find her bearings. “Those things.. are infectious. Did you see what it did to that fucking salarian? No wonder it was able to make its way here. If it can turn people into one of them it probably learned how to fly a ship. Docked into Omega like a regular Cerberus ship and broke out. FUCK!” Brill glanced down at her omni-tool, opening it and trying desperately to find what to do next. 

Aria. Aria said she would handle things, but could she handle something like this? If something were to threaten the whole of Omega, Aria would have the support of all the mercenary groups and her men to defend it, but this was something else entirely. 

”Wait.” Nova tapped Brill’s shoulder, bringing her around to look. The turian looking at something on her omni-tool. “Another Cerberus ship docked with Omega a while ago. Its registering as a ship called Elbrus. If those things were coming aboard from Cerberus ships, the docks would have been sealed.” 

Brill grabbed Nova’s arm, making the turian lower her arm so she could glance at the omni-tool as well, staring at the ship information on the screen. “That’s… it’s a military spec ship.” She observed. “Its reinforcements from Cerberus. They have to clean their fuck ups right?” She let go of Nova’s arm, glancing back at her own omni-tool. “Those, Adjutants or whatever the fuck are still on the station and they can multiply, but what’s to stop more from coming through the Omega 4 Relay?” Brill scrolled through the screens on her omni-tool, a small blip suddenly catching her attention and she quickly thumbed on it. The smallest print made Brill take a slow breath, calming her nerves. 

_[ Queen Offshore ]_

Aria wasn’t on the station anymore. If there were more of those Adjutants on the other side of the Omega 4 Relay, Aria was going to stop them from coming to Omega. The only issue now was the few still on the station, and even if there were just two, they could multiply. 

Brill closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she pondered over the possibilities. Dealing with those things would be difficult, with Aria offshore, it would mean the mercs would be dealing with cleaning up the rest of them. If Cerberus was here to help clean up the mess, they would be defending against anymore waves that came through the relay. “We need to take care of the Adjutants.” Brill stated, closing her omni-tool and turning around to look back at Nova. “Aria will be dealing with anymore headed this way in Cerberus ships. We can help the effort to push back the ones on the station right now, but we need to be careful. Can’t let those things get too close.” 

Nova’s brow rose curiously, her mandibles twitching at the statement. “How do you know that?” she asked. 

Brill shook her head, waving her hand at Nova’s question. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is what we need to do. If those things can multiply we need to take care of it now. See if you can tap the security cameras to find where they are. We might be able to lure the Adjutants to some sort of trap and take out all of them at once. The more we take out the less the mercs must deal with. We’ll succeed if we help out.” Brill pointed at Nova’s omni-tool. “Find where the majority of Adjutants are congested. That’s our target.” 

There was a moments hesitation, but Nova nodded, her confidence in Brill’s statement showing in her eyes. “Roger that.” 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It took some time for them to devise a plan to deal with the Adjutants on the station. The mercenary groups were centered around Afterlife while few other straggled around the station, picking off Adjutants one by one. What went on outside of the station was a mystery to them while they made their way deeper into the station through the tunnels. It looked like the largest cluster of Adjutants were funneling their way towards the mines, where a lot of citizens of Omega worked tirelessly mining the Eezo. If the Adjutants thrived from multiplying, it was clear where their purpose lay. Everyone with guns were near Afterlife, defenseless people ripe for the picking were at the mines, so that’s where Nova and Brill were headed. 

With just the two of them, they couldn’t hope to destroy all the remaining Adjutants headed to the mines, the only option was to separate them from the food source. With Omega focused on defending the station rather than producing Eezo, any production plants near the mines were powered down for now, and its occupants cleared out to focus on defenses. The best idea they had come up with was to try and seal what Adjutants they could in a production plant. As the pair made their way to the nearest production plant, the only remaining issue was still on their mind. They needed some way to lure the Adjutants from the mines to the plant, but now wasn’t the time to figure out that portion of the plan. 

The screeches that flowed through the tunnels as they got closer to the mines made Brill and Nova slow their travel, stopping and glancing at one another. Brill looked forward, spotting an exit ladder back to the streets. She pointed a hesitant finger towards the ladder, nodding at it as she glanced back to Nova. Nova nodded, her talons balling into fists in anticipation. “Time to go.” Brill whispered, the inhuman growls above them reminding them what was waiting. 

Brill grabbed hold of the ladder first, making her way up steadily until she reached the top and grabbed hold of the latch holding the door shut. She took a quick moment to take a deep readying breath, closing her eyes before she pushed against the latch and felt the door click free. Brill’s eyes snapped open as she pushed the door up, letting it fling upwards before she quickly climbed through it, glancing around her.

The vast area that was the mines felt dead when Brill emerged from the tunnels. Despite the silence, she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, a tingling feeling reminding her what was out there. Something just wasn’t right in the mines. Brill scanned the area, knowing it was clear and motioning to Nova to hurriedly come up before shutting the hatch to the tunnels closed. At least they could depend on the security of the maintenance tunnels for now if they remembered to close the entrances behind them. 

”They’re here.” Nova whispered. Brill tapped the top of the hatch, making sure it was secure before glancing back at Nova and nodding. She wasn’t wrong, the air around them was stifling, it was like those things had a presence about them. 

”Let’s just get this done and be done with them. Remember to keep your distance, we still don’t know what those fucking things are capable of.” Brill reminded quietly, she nodded her head to their left. “The entrance to the production plant should be in that direction. We lure them over there and seal them in. If we lure them to one area we can seal that door and then circle back to seal the door we came through.” Nova nodded. “Then let’s get this fucking over with.” 

A scream brought their attention back to what exactly they were dealing with, and where it was. Now they just needed to get the attention of as many Adjutants as they could. Seeing as how the first one they encountered went to the source of a loud scream, that’s all they needed. Get loud. 

Brill glanced around her towards a section of rock that had been in the middle of being mined. A large wrench lay on the ground next to it, it would have to do, since neither of them came armed with anything other than biotics. Brill hefted the wrench in her hand, testing its weight and glancing at Nova with a nod. “Ready?” She whispered. Nova nodded her affirmative. 

Brill heaved the wrench above her head, turning towards the nearest metal wall and swinging the wrench as well as she could. The metallic clang rang loudly drawing a ringing silence as the ring echoed throughout the entirety of the mines. The lingering metallic ring danced through the caverns of mines, disappearing into the distance of space. The silence only lasted a moment before the loud inhuman screech followed suit, and only grew louder. 

Brill and Nova both glanced in the same direction, the gurgling cries of the Adjutants continuously growing steadily until one of the creatures skidded around a mountain of rock, falling upon itself as it rounded the corner at high speed. 

”RUN!” Brill cried, turning heel towards the direction of the processing plant as more Adjutants round the corner, at full sprint towards the pair. Nova quickly followed suit behind Brill, taking long strides as they, both ran ahead of the creatures. Brill took a quick second, glancing behind her to see at least eight of the Adjutants closing in on both of them. “FUCK THEY’RE FAST!” Her biotics crackled purple from her hand wielding the wrench as she tossed it behind her, clocking one of the Adjutants in the head with it, but doing nothing to slow the creature’s speed. 

Brill turned her attention back to their goal, groaning loudly at the feeble attempt to slow one of them down. She didn’t account for how tough these things were, although she should have considered that these things were basically Reapers. A mix of organic mass and mechanical thinking, the scraping and clawing of metal against the floor was enough to remind the pair that these inhuman creations were still chasing them and closing in fast. Brill pointed a finger, spotting the closed door leading to the production plant. 

No reading appeared on the door, indicating the loss of power to the door and the production plant. “We need to get the door open!” Brill shouted, sprinting towards the door as fast as she could. Nova followed suit, opening her omni-tool as she ran, she made it to the door first, sliding on her knees to a panel by the door. Brill made it to the door, sliding to a stop and turning to face the Adjutants as they closed in. She braced herself, arms spread out with her palms facing the oncoming Adjutants. A giant purple biotic bubble erupted from Brill’s palms and encircling Nova, the door and Brill. The Adjutants rammed against the biotic field, Brill winced at the pain from the impact, but the field held its own. “Quickly would be great!” Brill shouted over her shoulder, beads of sweat already dripping down her forehead from the strain. 

Nova was already furiously interfacing with the panel, having ripped off the door and connected to the door’s power source. The door angrily creaked open, a small opening just wide enough for them to fit through between the door and the floor. Nova frantically closed her omni-tool, placing a talon to the bottom of the door. “BRILL!” She shouted. 

The strain against the biotic field was beginning to take its toll, the claws of the creatures now beginning to pierce through the purple field. Brill could feel the muscles in her arms tense, her whole-body aching like the field that kept the Adjutants at bay. Brill strained against the pressure, her eyes forced closed, teeth gritting as she held at bay. There was no way they could both make it through the door without the Adjutants getting either one or both in the attempt. “GO!” Brill screamed. 

Nova waited no second, ducking underneath the door and squeezing through the opening. Knowing the turian made it safely through the door, Brill clenched her hands into fists, her skin burning with each lick of her biotics against her. Her eyes snapped open, glowing a deep purple as she glared at the Adjutants. “FUCK OFF!” The bubble popped, sending the Adjutants flying backwards. The break of tension made Brill stagger, catching herself from face planting the floor with her hand, gulping for air as her biotics slowly faded from her body. Brill struggled to lift herself, her arms shaking from the exertion as she glanced to the Adjutants, the creatures already getting back onto their feet. “FUCK.” 

Brill let her body drop to the floor, stomach pressed to the ground, hurriedly pushing herself, Brill’s body quickly rolling along the ground, letting the human pass harmlessly through the opening in the door. As soon as she cleared the door, the wretched mechanical arms of the Adjutants scraped the floor, claws grasping hold of the bottom of the door. Metal screamed and protested the strength of the Adjutants, and the door slowly began to rise. 

An hand grabbed Brill’s arm, pulling the human to her feet. Brill grabbed Nova in turn, using the turian’s body to help pull herself up. “Didn’t think you had that in you.” Nova noted, watching the Adjutants continue to pull the door up. 

”Neither did I.” Brill breathed, glancing behind her at the door. “There’s two entrances to the plant. We need to find one of them fast and seal it, those fuckers will be through this one in no time.” Brill pressed a hand against her forehead, taking a deep recovering breath. “Let’s move.” 

Nova nodded, helping Brill keep herself up as they quickly made their way away from the door. The power was out to the plant, giving the pair no lights to make their way quickly through the plant. Nova decided to improvise, her own biotics flaring from her talon to give them some semblance of light to illuminate the walk ways as they made their way through the plant. A loud screech and gurgling cry reminded them of what was just behind. “They’ve made it through.” Nova noted. 

Brill nodded, regaining her wind as they both picked up the pace through the elaborate walkways. Brill pushed herself off of Nova, her strength returning with each step. “There!” Brill shouted, spotting another powerless door nearby. Nova quickly changed course and ran for the door, Brill hurriedly followed suit, tripping slightly as she tried to push herself again to catch up. 

An Adjutant appeared out of nowhere, smashing into Brill, sending her flying, the creature pinning her against the ground. “NOVA!” Brill screamed, the strength of the Adjutant taking away her ability to fight back, its misshapen form pressing against Brill’s chest, removing the wind from her lungs, right hand raised to her face. The Adjutant leaned its inhuman head down towards Brill, an ugly screech piercing Brill, some sort of glowing blue substance spitting out from the tubes in its mouth onto Brill’s face as it screeched. Brill closed her eyes, tilting her head from the goopy substances that sprayed itself onto her face. 

A biotic blast crashed into the Adjutant, sending the creature soaring off the catwalk and to the pit of the station below. Nova’s talon grasped hold of Brill’s arm and tossed the human towards the door, the metal door having already been opened partially enough for them to slip through. Brill slipped on her feet, toppling back to the ground in front of the door, she placed a hand against the cold steel and glanced back to Nova who was beginning to hurl biotic blasts at the rest of the oncoming Adjutants. Brill pushed herself up, slipping her legs through the door, her torso still on the other side. 

”NOVA! Lets go!” Brill shouted, watching the turian begin to take steps towards the door, still continuing her biotic onslaught at the Adjutants, holding the creatures’ advance at bay.

”I’m right behind you!” Nova called back. 

Brill bit her lip, her eyes still on Nova and the Adjutants that were still closing in on them despite Nova’s attack. Time almost seemed to slow, the over cumbersome Adjutants nearly climbing over one another to reach Nova, but when they got close, her biotic’s sent them flying back to where they had begun. Brill’s hands rolled into fists, every instinct inside of her screaming to help Nova. They could still drive back the Adjutants and find the other door, seal them off there. Brill clenched her eyes closed, her fingers digging into her palm as she tightened her fist. Brill reluctantly crawled back, pulling the rest of her body through the door. Brill moved clear of the door and scrambled to her feet, bending down to peer beneath the door in time to see Nova’s legs running towards the door, the legs of the Adjutant following just feet from her. 

The door slammed shut.

”NO!” Brill jumped back up, slamming her fist against the hard steel, the skin on her knuckles splitting from the impact. “NOVA!” Even with the thick door she could hear the chaos happening beyond. The light from Brill’s omni-tool as it suddenly rang capturing her attention and she quickly thumbed open the screen to answer the call. 

”GO BRILL!” Nova’s voice called through the omni-tool, her voice pleading and desperate.

”Fuck you!” Brill screamed, her fists still pressed against the door, banging against the steel. “I’m not fucking leaving you, Nova!” Her eyes burned and she continuously pounded on the door, despite the burn against her knuckles and the dribble of blood from her split skin.

The chaotic sounds from the other side of the door shifted, seeming to distance themselves from the door. “Now isn’t the time!” Nova’s voice came clear through the omni-tool as well as the screeching and roars from the Adjutants that were close behind her. “You have to seal the other doors and stop these things from getting through to the rest of the station.” 

”Not without you, you fucker!” Brill screamed, her eyes pressing shut from the burning sensation, her forearms resting against the cool of the door. “I can’t… Nova, I’m not.” 

”We’re partners, right?” Brill didn’t answer, her teeth gritted together, but she nodded slowly. “Then fucking do what I tell you. For once, just listen to me. Seal the doors.” 

Brill remained pressed against the door, the burning in her eyes sliding out from beneath her eyelids and rolling down her cheek, a tear dropping from bottom of her chin. The screeching still continuously emitting from Brill’s omni-tool to Nova’s struggle against the Adjutants. Brill’s palms flattened against the door, her fists loosening, and she took a shuddering breath. A hand slid down the cool steel and wiped against Brill’s cheek, wiping away the silent tears. 

Brill slammed her hands against the door once more, quickly turning away as she sprinted away to the nearest tunnel entrance. She needed to get back to the mines, seal the entrance and find the third final door to lock the Adjutants away. Brill’s strength returned to her with her steady determination as she found her way back to the maintenance tunnels and back to the spot in the mines where they had started their plan. Brill continued her task, making her way to the entrance to the plant, the door having been wretched halfway open from the Adjutants. 

Her omni-tool remained open the whole time, even as the call turned to static to Brill’s ears, the sound becoming nothing to her as she connected to the panel. The second door slammed shut, scratches and marks all along the bottom from the Adjutants’ determination to open it up earlier. Ensuring the door was closed, Brill wrenched her hand into the panel and tugged at the cables within, ensuring no one on her side could accidentally open it. 

One door left, with the power gone from the plant, the door was sure to be closed, Brill’s task was to ensure it would remain that way from the outside. Once the issues were dealt with the Omega 4 Relay, they would clean up the Adjutants in the plant later or possibly never if those things could die on their own. 

Brill found her way back to the maintenance tunnels, using her omni-tool to map out the ideal location for the last entrance. Having no access to the mapping of Omega, she was just going on a hunch. Brill’s eyes skimming across what she had mapped out so far of the tunnels, biting her bottom lip as she eyed what she had to work with. A blip on her screen pulled her attention and she thumbed the notification, her eyes going wide. A fully detailed map of Omega’s infrastructure showed itself on Brill’s screen, easily pointing the location of the third door.

”Wha…” Brill mumbled, punching the notification once more to find its source. A message, from a sender labeled as **Unknown**. “No… Nova?” The messages she had received previously were always labeled with the same sender, she had always assumed it was Nova because of the secrecy, but now…. Brill clenched her eyes shut, taking a deep calming breath as she pushed it off her mind. She needed the last door still. Brill closed the message, returning to the map of Omega instead, lining out the path she needed to take to get there. 

The map showing her the way, Brill closed her omni-tool and her legs took her. The final door coming to her view in a matter of moments where she ripped off the panel door and pulled out the cables like the other door, sealing the Adjutants to their fate inside the plant. Brill tossed the broken cables to the ground and fell to her knees, palms over her eyes as the adrenaline left her system, leaving her broken once more by the door that held her friend.

A dreading silence fell around Brill, reminding her of the loneliness of her childhood. This was how it was meant to be, on Omega, everyone eventually ended up alone. Rather than the burning her eyes, Brill could feel the thick lump in her throat, a strain in her mouth, her tongue almost feeling swollen to the dreaded feeling in the pit of her stomach as she held back the pain from rising once more. 

”This is Colonel Raymond Ashe, speaking to the residents of Omega on behalf of Cerberus!” Brill’s head shot up as the sound of a voice broke the silence. Brill got to her feet, hand on her knee as she stood and made her way away from the door. “Our reinforcements outside have defeated the last of the creatures threatening to infest Omega. In light of recent events, Cerberus now considers control of this station vital to protecting the galaxy against the Reaper menace!” Brill stepped out into the streets, her eyes gazing upwards to a large view screen hanging over the streets. It was the same screen Aria would have used to talk to the people of Omega. Other curious heads were emerging from the debris among the streets, everyone looking to the view screen. A man in a Cerberus uniform stood at attention, one hand behind his back as he spoke. 

”Under orders from Cerberus, I took the first steps half an hour ago by disabling station defenses run from Omega Control.” Brill’s mouth fell agape as the words hit her, her own mouth moving in the voiceless word _no_. “Nothing must stand in the way of an orderly transition. Your remaining defenders have been eliminated in advance of our occupying force. Let all factions aboard be on notice, from this day forward, **Cerberus claims Omega**!” Brill was turning, her legs moving in a blur as she tripped along the debris, stepping around broken signs and scattered glass. “Submit now, for your own protection! Resist – and suffer the consequences!”

The last words echoed throughout the station, unheard by the majority of Omega’s occupants. Cerberus could say what they wanted to the station, but the announcement meant one clear thing to everyone, mercenary groups included. 

The Queen of Omega was gone. Omega was now fair game. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It only took a matter of seconds for chaos to ensue between the mercenary groups. The sound of screams that had once filled the station was now replaced by the sound of constant gunfire and krogan battle cries. Any resident of Omega would know the consequences of telling everyone that Aria T’loak was no longer in control of the station, it meant only one outcome. Every mercenary group would fight to the last man at the chance to take control of the station and no one would succeed at persuading them otherwise except Aria T’loak herself. A grave mistake by Cerberus. 

The chaos helped Brill slip through the forces as the gunfire began, everyone more content on shooting one another rather than one human slipping through the ranks with her head down low to the ground. Even where the firefights became thicker around Afterlife, no one paid attention as Brill dodged and rolled through the forces swarming around the bar, spotting Aria’s forces holding a good line against the Blue Suns. 

There, at the forefront of Aria’s forces was the batarian, Aria’s assistant. It had been a brief meeting, but there was a chance he remembered Brill enough to answer her questions as she quickly ducked her head behind some debris and scaled her way to their front lines. The batarian took a step back from the firefight, keying his omni-tool while the other men kept their hold. 

”Anto!” Brill called, drawing the batarian’s attention as she hoped over a barrier separating the two of them. 

The batarian, Anto, was stunned, lowering his omni-tool as he watched Brill approach him, rather amazed at her presence alone. “You…?” The brief memory of him being instructed to drag the unconscious human to Aria’s apartment. He instinctively raised his assault rifle at Brill, she quickly threw up her arms and dropped to her knees in submission. 

”PLEASE! Anto, I just need to know where she is!” Brill called, the gunfire keeping everyone’s attention on the fight except the two of them. 

Anto grunted, lowering the gun as he glanced behind him to ensure the line was still holding, he quickly approached the human, wrenching her back up to her feet. “We lost contact with the Cerberus ship she was on when she jumped through the Omega 4 Relay.” He explained, keeping his gun at the ready in his hands. 

”But she’s not dead?” Brill asked, Anto shaking his head. 

”Doubtful. She’s not easy to kill, Cerberus most likely double-crossed her like they did here.” Anto answered, shoving Brill to the side. “Now get the hell out of here. Not even a damn weapon and you come here? I need to keep the bar clear until she comes back.” Brill staggered back, watching Anto turn his attention back to the firefight, opening fire at the mercenaries. “Damn it! All I wanted to do was get the gangs to stop fighting and listen to me to broker a deal like Aria does. But the cease-fire didn’t last five seconds.” 

A turian next to Anto laughed. “Isn’t it obvious? You’re not Aria!” He scoffed. 

”Shit. I always hate to say it, but you’re right. This is getting out of hand! We need Aria!” Anto replied. 

Brill’s eyes widened as the door at the far side behind the mercenary groups suddenly opened and a squad of Cerberus troopers filed out from it, guns opening fire. “Anto!” Brill shouted, pointing at the Cerberus troopers mowing through the mercenaries. 

The batarian turned to look at Brill before following her finger to spot the troopers as well. “Everybody, move back into the bar!” Anto shouted, pointing a finger at the door to Afterlife. 

Brill ducked her head, shouldering past Aria’s fleeing troops. With Cerberus distracted with the task of gunning down the alien mercenary groups specifically, a small human easily ducked past the troopers, sliding her back to a dark corner, breathing heavily. So Aria was still alive, out there somewhere. They just had to hold up against mercenary groups AND Cerberus until she made an appearance again. 

A hand grabbed Brill from behind, making her instinctively turn, her fist finding its mark in the gut of the intruder. The figure bent over from the blow, raising his head to look at Brill as he grunted. Brill’s eyes grew wide. “Amvius?!” The turian nodded, talon on his gut where she had punched him. He shook, grabbing hold of Brill’s arm again and pulling her along, both slipping through the door the Cerberus troopers had just emerged through. 

The door hissing closed behind them made Brill heave a sigh, finally clear of any possible flying bullets. Amvius smacked Brill’s forearm, bringing her attention up to him. “What the hell are you doing here? The last place you should be is Afterlife.” He remarked, Brill’s brow raising curiously at his statement. 

”I should ask you the same thing.” Brill shot back, rubbing her arm where he had hit her. “Can’t believe you’re still breathing with all the shit that’s going on around here.” 

”With the chaos, Kandros is dead set on keeping the Talon’s heads under the radar. All the bigger mercenary groups are focused on taking control of Omega with Aria dead.” Amvius continued, grabbing hold of Brill’s forearm and practically dragging her down the street somewhere more secure. 

”NO!” Brill ripped her arm free, making Amvius stop and turn to peer at her. “Aria’s **not** dead.” She seethed, Amvius’s eyes widening in surprise at her tone. 

Amvius held up his talons in submission, nodding. “Fine, alright, she’s not dead. Just calm down, Brill. There’s a lot of shit going on right now with the bigger merc groups fighting for control. With Cerberus part of the fighting, we need to get our heads down until things blow over. At the end of this, someone is going to be in control of Omega.” He explained, turning his hands to face his palms up. “Please, come with me, somewhere safe until then. At least let me find you a gun, we have extras back at the Talon--.” 

”I’m not going back there, Amvius!” Brill shouted, smacking his offered hands away. 

”I’m not asking you to join the Talons again, Brill. At the very least, you need something to protect yourself with.” Amvius began, receiving the reply of Brill spitting on the ground. 

”Like I can’t take care of myself?!” Brill spat. “That I can’t fucking protect myself an—” A strain pulled at her throat, her voice coming out raspy as she choked. “Fuck.” Brill’s hands covered her face and she could feel herself sink, the sight of Amvius suddenly reminding her of Nova. In her inability to protect herself… Nova had sacrificed herself in order to save Brill, and here she was lying to herself that she could. 

Amvius grasped Brill’s forearms, keeping her standing steadily, lifting her chin up to look at him with his talon. “Brill what’s wrong?” He asked, concern raising in his voice. Brill frantically wiped at her face, feeling the warm drops of tears returning to her eyes and she hurriedly wiped them away. 

”Those things.” Brill choked, using the back of her hand to wipe at her cheek as she felt another tear free itself from her eye. “It was all my idea. I… I told Nova we needed to trap the Adjutants from the rest of the station. It was my idea and she….” She cursed under her breath, her voice still choked from the tears she continuously held back despite their determination to fall. “I couldn’t keep going. One of them got me and she, she held them back while I escaped Amvius. She said she would follow right behind me.” Brill felt her hand rest over Amvius’s, feeling the weight of his hand against her arm. “But she didn’t. She sealed the door behind me before I could even stop her. I don’t… she, there’s no way she made it out. Nova told me, made me finish the job.” 

”You did?” Amvius asked, surprised. “You sealed the Adjutants from the rest of the station?” Brill nodded her response, not sure if she could make out clear words anymore. He stepped to her side, hugging her side to his own and taking a step. “Lets go.” He instructed, and Brill didn’t hesitate this time, walking stride next to him, his arm resting over her shoulders as they walked, keeping their distance from the sound of distant gunfire. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The walk back to Talon headquarters was familiar and had a dread to them, as soon as Brill could feel herself cross the threshold that was familiar territory, it felt like her legs had turned to lead. If it wasn’t for Amvius walking with her, she doubted she could make the trek, even face Nyreen at the end of the short journey, but she couldn’t deny the warmth she felt to remember the floor beneath her feet. 

The pair entered Talon headquarters, Amvius rapping a knock against the door in quick succession before it finally opened and let them enter. Upon stepping through the door, Brill glanced behind her, spotting the guard by the door who nodded at them in acknowledgement. Except, the guard was unfamiliar to Brill, her brow lowering curiously at the sight of the stranger, she turned her head away, glancing up at Amvius as he walked beside her, arm still around her.

”Amvius… where’s Torin? He’s not.. at the door? Anymore?” Brill asked, her voice still shaky. 

Amvius grew silent for a moment, shaking his head at her question. “He was near the docks doing a drug run.” He answered, his voice lowering as he made out the words. “We lost contact from everyone that was at the docks.” 

Brill’s brow quivered between her eyes, wrinkling at his words, her mouth agape. Another gone. How many others were going to die in this chaos? Her eyes lowered back to her feet, listening to the familiar clink of the ground against her boots. 

”The mercenary forces are working together again. Only means one thing.” Brill’s head snapped back up, and she pushed away from Amvius, letting the two of them separate so she could stand on her own. Nyreen Kandros. A silence fell suddenly after Nyreen’s words, and everyone around her realizing Brill’s presence. Nyreen looked up from her view screen, a display of the fighting taking place in Omega visible on her screens. As soon as she looked up, the screens died out, lowering to the board in front of her as she got a clear view of the human standing in front of her. “Brill.” Nyreen spoke, her eyes locked with Brill’s. “Or should I call you Thief?” 

Brill remained silent, her hands curling into loose fists, her eyes still burned from previously, but she tried to retain her composure in front of Nyreen. The sight of Brill made Nyreen’s eyes narrow suddenly, and she stepped around the terminal, closing the distance between them. “I need to speak to you.” Brill made out, her voice cracking only slightly but Nyreen caught it. 

”Then we’ll talk.” Nyreen answered, she waved dismissively at the men behind her and they returned to their work. She motioned to her left with her hand, Brill nodded and walked in the direction Nyreen motioned. They walked until they were clear of earshot, a door hissing open to what Brill recognized was Nyreen’s private quarters, although she had never entered them before. Brill glanced around the room, spying a viewport into space, thousands of Cerberus ships scattered across the vast space just outside the station. She approached the view port, staring out at all the ships just lying in wait. The door to Nyreen’s quarters hissed closed. “What did you need to speak to me about?” 

”I was… hoping to get a gun from the Talon armory, to protect myself with.” Brill answered, keeping her eyes outside to the vast space. 

”You…” Nyreen’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you need a weapon? That’s… why are you asking me for one? You don’t use them.” 

”Its time for a change.” Brill stated, turning from the viewport to face Nyreen. “Amvius told me about Torin.” Nyreen lowered her head respectfully, hearing the familiar name. “Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve killed someone with a gun.” 

Nyreen sighed, hearing the same thing from Brill’s lips that made her leave. “I already apologized to you for what happened, Brill. You defended yourself, if you hadn’t you would be dead right now.” She began but stopped herself, groaning as she placed a hand against her eyes. “Brill, the past is the past, I can’t change what happened to you before and after everything.” Nyreen breathed, lowering her hand, watching Brill as she turned her gaze away from the turian. 

Brill folded her arms across her chest, closing her eyes as she took a deep breath. How many times did Nyreen apologize to her for what had happened and how many times did Brill refuse to accept it. Constantly denying to herself and blaming Nyreen for all that had occurred. She turned away from the turian, staring back out into space. She didn’t remain alone for long, feeling the presence of the turian as Nyreen stood beside her, staring out into space. 

”There’s an army outside, Brill. Cerberus has an army out there.” Nyreen motioned at the hundreds of ships floating in space. “Omega isn’t going to win this fight for control. Aria’s forces are crippled by the Adjutants and Cerberus has the advantage now. As much as they won’t admit it, they are going to lose at this rate, either the entire station will be destroyed by those ships out there _or_ Cerberus will take Omega. There’s only so many outcomes at this point.”

”Where will that put me?” Brill asked, her eyes narrowing as she eyed the ships. 

Nyreen placed a hand on Brill’s shoulder and turning the human towards her. “By my side, I hope.” She began, her voice sincere in her statement, drawing surprise from Brill. “Put the past aside, Brill. Right now, the outcome of Omega has one ending I can see. Aria won’t let Omega be destroyed, leaving only one outcome for it, and if that’s where we are left, someone needs to continue to fight for the people of Omega. If Cerberus takes over, someone needs to keep fighting back under a unified cause. I just have one question for you, Thief… Brill. Will you help me?” 

Amvius’s words rang in her ears, the words he had spoken to her so long ago and she hadn’t believed. Nyreen’s idea, her purpose for bringing Brill to the Talons a long time ago. He wasn’t wrong after all. Nyreen extended out her arm to Brill, palm open. Brill stared at the open invitation, the lingering question if she would do what was needed. To fight for the people of Omega, Aria would think the idea hilarious. Brill would have too at one point in time, before all of this. 

Brill clasped Nyreen’s arm, grasping her forearm while Nyreen in turn grabbed hers and they shook. What resembled a grin appeared on Nyreen’s mandibles as they sternly shook their arms. “Alright, Nyreen.” Brill sighed, both finally letting each other go, nodding in acknowledgement to one another. “Can you… give me a moment?” 

Although curious by the request, Nyreen nodded and stepped aside, leaving Brill alone in the quarters. Brill looked back out the viewport, eyeing the ships as they began to shift, now closing in on the station, as if they were all prepared to dock. Except… Brill’s eyes narrowed as she made out one slim dark ship fly through the throng of Cerberus ships, it wasn’t Cerberus but one of Omega’s, heading for the Relay. Brill’s wrist briefly illuminated as her omni-tool rang, the sound brought her attention and she opened the omni-tool seeing the notification. 

_[ Queen offshore ]_

Brill looked back up from her omni-tool, resting the palm of her right hand against the glass, her eyes glued to the ship as it made its way to the relay. The fate of Omega was decided, but Aria was alive and departing the station, leaving it to Cerberus control. Brill continued to watch the ship, even as it came in contact with the energy of the relay and shot into space, an energy trail left in its wake. _Good bye, Aria,_ Brill said to herself.

”I’ll be waiting.”


	11. Chapter 11

Omega’s ports were always busy, filled with beggars and several people just trying to get off the station. An asari hurried through the crowds, holding the hand of a young girl as they went, hurrying the girl to follow closely. To the people around them, it was just another small family, determined to leave the station safely, find some place better. 

”I have enough credits to get us a flight to Thessia. Things will be better there for us, its too dangerous for us to remain here.” The asari spoke, continuing a steady pace. 

At the words, the girl promptly stopped, ripping her hand free from the asari’s. “No! I’m not going!” The asari turned to look at the girl, bewildered by the statement. She knelt, coming face to face with the girl, hands gently holding the girl’s forearms. 

”We can’t stay here on Omega. Its not safe for you. We can go to my home world and live there together.” The asari explained, concern etched on her face, battling the girl’s look of determination. 

”I’m not leaving.” The girl repeated, she took a quick refusing huff, putting a hand on the asari’s arm. “But you should go.” The girl nodded. “This… this is my home not yours. You should go and I’ll stay here… where I belong.” The words that came from the girl’s mouth sounded older, wiser despite her apparent young age, the asari only stared at the girl in awe at the explanation. 

”Brill…. I promise I’ll come back here for you.” 

The young twelve year old Brill simply smiled at the asari who raised her. “Don’t make a promise, when you know you can’t keep it.”

….

Brill slowly opened her eyes, a small chirp from her omni-tool dragging her from the restless sleep she continuously found herself in. Compared to the previous dreams she had become cursed with, these ones were different, reminding her of times long gone. It was a good change from the bloody retelling of the last day in the Talons, but she wasn’t so sure anymore. Brill’s hand slowly lingered to her chest, grabbing the pendant she knew hid itself beneath her shirt, that was the day she had received it. Why hadn’t she just gone on that ship? Brill sighed, slowly sitting up, rubbing her forehead with her hand and groaning. 

A good few months had passed into Cerberus’s occupation of Omega. To say things were going swimmingly would be a gross lie. Nothing was going well. The rest of the mercenary groups on Omega had either put down their guns, gotten killed, escaped the station somehow or, the least option, joined the Talons under Nyreen’s banner. The latter option was the one they most looked for from mercs, but it was the one very few choose to do. With Aria now gone from the picture, the mercs became unleashed and with Cerberus running things now, the mercenary groups had no one they deemed worthy enough to listen to. 

Until they met Nyreen. 

Another chirp from Brill’s omni-tool reminded her that it was still flashing new notifications. She opened the omni-tool, absently scrolling through the messages coming in. It had been happening the past few days, constant messages from an unknown sender with details of recently docked ships; it contained the callsigns, ID tags and designations on the ships that docked but nothing more. Previously, she would sometimes get shipping manifests from Nova, but these were different they looked like simply automated messages about arrivals. 

Brill slipped her legs over the side of her bed, studying the ships coming in. Surprisingly, despite what had happened, the messages kept coming in. At this point, Brill had stocked it up to some automated system Nova had deployed before… everything, she had forwarded the system to Brill’s omni-tool. It was the only explanation she could figure anyways. 

Brill finally closed her omni-tool, glancing around her small room. It was the same small space she used to live in when she was a part of the Talons and it reminded her of better times, when things weren’t this shitty. She kept the lights in her room dim rather than pitch black, but either way she was having trouble sleeping. 

With Omega under Cerberus control, they decided to use whatever resources they could get to the maximum, running the drills on high, over working the generator producing Eevo and overworking the individuals in the mines. The extra work made the station that much hotter, with the generators running on maximum to keep up with the demand, the entirety of the station’s temperature rose drastically. Although Omega was already a hotbox, the overworking machinery didn’t make it any better. 

There had to be some semblance of order, however, and Cerberus achieved it the only way they could think of. Scattered all throughout the regions of Omega were Cerberus mech droids now, protected by laser cutting force fields that only the mechs could safely walk through or risk losing a finger. Under Nyreen’s rule, the Talon’s decided to take control of order. Whenever they could, the Talons were destroying mechs, hacking security systems, disabling forcefields and just generally breaking whatever shit they could get their hands on. The civilians and workers on Omega only relished at the continued mayhem the Talons caused, it gave the people of Omega freedom and some spirit to rise against the Cerberus occupation. Even a few months in, they were still getting new members wanting to join and fight. 

Brill fumbled around the side of her bed, finding her boots and slipping them on. Now that she was awake, and it was doubtful she’d fall asleep again, it was probably better to get her day started now. Satisfied with the tightness of her boots, she stood, adjusting her vest. Against the door to her room hung a chest piece of armor. With everything going on lately, it became necessary. It was a simple piece of light armor, clipping at the sides and sitting on her shoulders via two straps, but the chest itself was made with a reinforced synthetic alloy that could fend against a good amount of fire before it really started to hurt. 

Brill grabbed the piece of armor, slipping it over her head and snapping the sides on. Another day in paradise, the thought made Brill sigh as she left the room. The lights in HQ were also dimmed, since most people were sleeping, trying to catch up on some much-needed rest after all the chaos that happens daily. She made her way down the levels of rooms arriving to the bottom, the center of the circling rooms. There was a circular display that showed them the mapping of Omega, something Nyreen used to help plan courses of attack and analyze where Cerberus was reinforced. A map that Brill happily provided when she rejoined them. 

Brill headed straight for the display, keying a button as the holographic view of Omega appeared, the sudden brighter light making Brill squint. With each new scout report they updated the map, displaying recent activity. With a night’s worth of scouting, there was plenty of new activity to investigate, exactly what Brill busied herself with, leaning towards the map as she studied the new activity. 

”Up early again?” Brill didn’t turn to look, her eyes still glued to the view, but she nodded her reply. Nyreen appeared beside Brill, standing next to her and studying the map as well. “So what does the night bring?” She asked. 

Brill pointed at a lower region of the station, it was highlighted in red meaning increased Cerberus presence. “Gozu district, they keep increasing security in that area lately. I’ve been getting reports that our scouts can’t get too close because of the amount of force fields, but its an obvious increase in Cerberus security. They have to be up to something there.” Brill explained, her eyes narrowing as she observed the region. There wasn’t much in the Gozu district, other than the fact that an alien disease once infected the area, but that was a long time ago. 

”Could be, we couldn’t know for sure unless we disabled those fields.” Nyreen added. 

Brill sighed, pulling back from the map to look at Nyreen. “Not going to happen.” She rubbed her forehead again, her whole-body aching about its lack of rest. “They’ve gotten control of the civilian population around that area, with the number of fields there’s really no access around there anymore.” 

Nyreen turned around, resting her back against the display, eyeing Brill who ignored the gaze. “Trouble sleeping?” 

Brill kept her gaze on the map. “No, I’m fine.” She said bluntly, reaching out to rotate the map around to see it from a different angle. 

”You’ve become a terrible liar.” Brill sighed once more, letting her gaze drop from the map as she lowered her head, backing away from the terminal to finally look at Nyreen’s gaze, the turian resting against the terminal with her arms across her chest. The turian nudged her head towards her quarters. “You need to get some rest, I can’t have you passing out when I need you.” 

Brill dropped her head in defeat. Although Nyreen was right, she knew the possibility of heading to sleep again was slim at best. “Let me just finish inspecting the scouting reports and I’ll…” her voice dropped off as a new blip appeared on their holographic map. “Activity.” Brill stated.

Nyreen stepped beside Brill, noting the blip that had appeared. The turian nodded, it was a request from a team for assistance, it didn’t look like they were in danger, but it was urgent. “Go check it out, and keep me posted.”

Brill nodded, pushing herself away from the terminal and quickly turning to leave.

”Brill.” Brill stopped short at her name, turning to look at the turian, who tossed her a gun. Brill caught the gun in the air, not even questioning it and strapping it to her side. Brill nodded once more and finally departed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Getting to the area the request was made was a lot more difficult then expected. Since Cerberus taking over, they decided to quarantine different sections of Omega in order to establish control. This involved setting up electronic forcefields as barricades to control the revolting residents on the station. It was proving effective when Cerberus started to implement combat droids that could pass through the forcefields, but it could never stop Nyreen.

Brill was able to bypass a lot of the quarantined sections to get to the group of Talons, waiting patiently for backup. She had expected some problem they needed to be solved, like some conflict that needed to be resolved, but when she joined them, she didn’t expect to see three Cerberus troops on their knees with hands behind their heads. A few Talons turned to see Brill’s approached, one turian in the group saluting out of respect. Brill nodded to the group as she approached.

”What exactly is going on here?” Brill asked, the Talons starting to relax now that Brill was there to sort things out. From the look of it, here were a few Omega civilians in the crowd, clearly upset that the Cerberus troops were still alive. 

The turian who saluted earlier gestured to the Cerberus troops with their gun. “There was an altercation with these troopers and the civilians. They were trying to uphold order and we intervened before things to too violent.” Brill approached the Cerberus troops as the turian spoke, eyeing them crucially. Most encounters were just the mechs, they hardly ever encountered actual Cerberus troops, much less living ones. “Thought it might be worth keeping them alive.” Brill knelt in front one of the troopers, seeing him eye to eye. 

”Good thinking.” She noted, still eyeing the trooper, his eyes narrowing at her, a look of contempt. “I doubt any of you would willingly give information, without at least some coaxing.” The trooper she was eyeing spit on the ground right at her feet to emphasis that she was indeed correct. “But I’m not really here to coax.” Brill admitted. She wasn’t here to gather information, what could they possibly provide that they didn’t already know? Not like the Talons didn’t already know Cerberus’s plans for Omega. Brill stood back up, turning to the Talons that kept guard around them. 

”None of you get it do you?!” One of the Cerberus men spoke, spitting in disgust, making Brill turn back, slightly curious, he locked eyes with her, a look of disgust. “The Reapers are here, they’ve already attacked Earth!” Brill turned her head to look at the reactions from her Talons and the civilians, most were confused while the rest were genuinely concerned.

Brill stepped towards the Cerberus trooper who spoke, arms folded across her chest. “And?”

”Cerberus is the best chance any of have at handling the Reaper threat!” The trooper spat, only getting a curious look from Brill. He looked at his compatriots before looking back at Brill. “We need Omega if any of you slime want to even survive.” He emphasized his feelings towards them by spitting on the ground. 

Brill knelt in front of the trooper, looking at the others kneeling along the ground, her eyes narrowing as she looked squarely at the one who had decided to speak. “Should have asked nicely.” As soon as she spoke, Brill’s hand flew to the gun on her waist and she jabbed the barrel into one of the trooper’s knees. Brill didn’t even flinch as she pulled the trigger and the trooper screamed out in pain, falling over as his kneecap exploded. “Now.” Brill stood, wiping her gun of the blood that had splattered. “Anyone else have something to say?” She asked the other troopers. 

”You BITCH!” The Cerberus trooper screamed, he had fallen back, clutching his busted knee in pain. 

”Wasn’t talking to you.” Brill waved her hand at the screaming trooper, clipping the gun back to her waist. She looked back at the others who knelt in silence. “No?” She nodded, stepping away from the group to stand beside her Talons, spinning on her heel to look at the Cerberus troops again. “Problem for you here, is that this station is a home to us… what did you call us?” She pointed at the still grimacing trooper on the ground. “Slime? Not that great, you could have done better with that.” Brill shrugged, glancing at the Talons next to her, one smiling and nodding. “Right? I’ve heard better myself, made better.” Brill turned back to the Cerberus troops, eyeing them, biting her bottom lip in the process. “Still…. Interesting, I think I’m good.” With that, Brill turns on her heel, leaving the troops on the ground, walking towards the Talons.

”Boss.” Brill stopped, just as she passed the Talons, one of them making her glance over her shoulder at them. “What should we do with them?”

Brill took another glance at the Cerberus troops, one still on the ground grimacing at the bloody shattered knee cap. “Let the people decide what they want to do.” Brill nodded, looking back to the Talon that asked. “Nyreen should hear about what’s going on.” The Talon nods his understanding, letting Brill turn away to depart the scene. Before she leaves the area, she can hear the distant cries of the Cerberus Troops as the people of Omega dish out their vengeance.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Getting back to HQ was uneventful but smooth at least. When Brill arrives back at the holomap, Nyreen isn’t anywhere to be seen. Thankfully, a Talon standing over the map directs Brill to Nyreen’s quarters, where she heads right away. Brill found Nyreen just there, sitting at a desk and mulling over all the reports coming in via a datapad.

”Nyreen.” Brill starts, heading directly to the turian who glances up at her name. “There’s something you should hear.”

”What is it?” Nyreen asks, setting down the datapad she was just reading, her hands folding on top of each other and resting on the desk.

”I dealt with the issue. The guys caught some Cerberus troopers and they’ve been dealt with. Except… one of them said something. One of the reasons Cerberus took the station.” Brill begins, Nyreen’s eyes narrowing. “The Reapers are here. Said something about how they’ve already attacked Earth.”

Nyreen’s shoulders instantly slump, her eyes going wide. “You… Are you sure he wasn’t lying?” 

Brill folds her arms across her chest, nodding. “He had no reason to. He was telling the truth.” She glances to the side, thinking about it. “We haven’t had any contact with anyone outside of Omega since the occupation, it’d make sense. There’s been increasing traffic from Cerberus ships going in and out. Not just scientists from across the Omega 4 Relay. Military ships coming in from the normal relay.” 

Nyreen’s eyes narrow as she leans across the desk. “You’re sure about that assumption?”

Brill rolls her eyes, looking back at Nyreen. “It’s not an assumption.” To demonstrate, she thumbs open her omni-tool on her wrist, scrolling through the automated transcript of arriving ships. “Before the occupation we had dozen of science ships coming in and out from the Omega 4 Relay. Standard stuff and I recognize all the ship designations from back then. A few months ago we started getting other ships in, designations I’ve never seen before. They’re new, which only means they’re coming from somewhere else other than the Omega 4 Relay.” She closes the omni-tool, having scrolled through the list of new ships. “Not only that.” She folds her arms back across her chest. “You know the fucker on the chair has been doing upgrades to the station. Why else would he be increasing the station’s defenses so much? Unless he expects a fight from anything.”

Nyreen leans back, drumming her talons on the surface of the desk as she mulls it over. She glances up at Brill after a moment. “For when Aria T’loak returns.” She shrugs.

Brill quickly glances away, stepping away from the desk to walk and stare out Nyreen’s window into space. “And you really think that’s going to happen?” she states, her voice low and emotionless.

Nyreen’s mandibles flicker with interest. “For someone who stole from the Queen for years, I’m surprised you don’t expect her to.” 

Brill’s eyes narrow at the view outside the station. Her eyes darting across the specks of ships among the stars. A silence falls between them as Brill stares out the window, prompting Nyreen to stand and walk to stand beside Brill. “What do you plan on doing if that happens?”

Nyreen cocks her head to the side, trying to eye Brill’s expression at her question, but the human keeps her eyes on the space outside. “If what happens?” 

Brill bites her lip, keeping herself facing away from Nyreen. “If Aria does come back.” She takes a soft smooth breath, mustering herself before she finally turns to Nyreen, looking up at the taller turian. “What do you plan on doing?” 

Nyreen’s eyes narrow at the question, leaning forward slightly, almost looming over the human. “Why would you ask me that?”

Brill quickly looks away, taking a step back from Nyreen before looking back at her, shrugging. “Just making sure we’re on the same page, to deal with problem.” 

The response makes Nyreen’s mandibles twitch angrily. “You’re lying.” 

The smaller human holds Nyreen’s piercing gaze, keeping her place as the turian bares down on her, a tense minute passes before Brill finally speaks. “I’m not lying.”

”Just telling part of the truth.” Nyreen hisses. “I know how you lie, Brill, that’s not going to work with me.” Brill keeps her lips sealed, holding Nyreen’s gaze before the turian finally pulls back sighing as her shoulders slump. “Fine. Keep the truth to yourself.” The words makes Brill quickly relax, especially when Nyreen finally steps back, giving Brill some distance. “Just promise me one thing.” Brill’s gaze snaps back to the turian, surprised. “You’re not going to do something to get yourself killed or hurt.” 

Brill hesitates for a second, looking away from Nyreen for a moment as she considers it, locking her gaze back with her once more. “I promise.” Nyreen sighs once more, turning away from Brill, satisfied with her answer. Brill watches the turian slowly trot back to her desk, placing her hand on the corner of it. Brill turns away from Nyreen, looking back out the viewport into space. 

”If what those Cerberus men said is true, we should keep a watchful eye. I can’t imagine the Reapers coming all the way to the Terminus. If they’ve attacked Earth already, that means they’re far off from here. We’re at the outskirts, they would have attacked here first.” Nyreen chuckles at that. “Of course, they probably have a vendetta.” 

Brill continues to watch the ships fly past as Nyreen speaks, most of it standard. Even if the Reapers were to come all the way to the Terminus, Cerberus had so far armed Omega to the teeth. If rumors were true, the Reapers are powerful, but Cerberus would be able to put up a fight on Omega’s behalf, mostly because they need the station and the EEZO they produce. At least for now they had no reason to worry if the Reapers had reached their galaxy. 

A flash of light from the Relay catches Brill’s eye, her gaze narrowing at the ship that just entered in. A small ship in the distance, but a Cerberus cruiser no doubt, typical… except. The past few months have been regulatory, ships coming in and out of relay at… a regular occurrence. Brill’s eyes narrow, not even having to double check her assumption… a unplanned ship was arriving through the Relay. “Nyreen….” The turian looks up, having stopped mid-sentence to look at Brill.

Brill watches carefully as the ship makes its approach, everything seeming perfectly normal despite the irregularity. Until the cruiser suddenly open fires on another Cerberus cruiser, obliterating the unsuspecting ship. Brill’s eyes go wide, she side steps from the viewport, her palms against the glass as the attacking ship blazes past. Suddenly flashes of more incoming ships are visible around the Relay, dozens of them. “What?” 

Nyreen is standing beside her in seconds, watching the events unfolding just outside the station beside Brill. The turian’s eyes narrow critically. “Looks like the Queen has returned to reclaim her throne.” 

Brill’s head snaps to Nyreen, the turian perfectly serious in her words. “What?” Brill looks back out, watching as the station’s canons begin to open fire on the ship. The other ships that arrived now opening fire, but the battle isn’t very successful at all. The ship quickly catches fire, plummeting towards the station, both making out escape pods being ejected from the ship. Many escape pods flying towards the station and colliding into the structure. 

Brill pushes off the viewport, running, but a hand catches her arm, halting her advance. “No.” Brill turns back, gritting her teeth at Nyreen. “Stay here and manage the Talons. Cerberus will be retaliating if those escape pods made it in one piece.”

Brill’s eyes narrow at the orders, shaking her arm free from Nyreen’s grip, nodding reluctantly. “And you?” She asks. 

”I’m going to find out Aria’s motives.” Nyreen steps back to her desk, picking up a jacket with a large hood from the desk. “Make sure we don’t get caught in the crossfire.” She slips on the jacket pulling up the hood before returning to Brill’s side. “Get on the security cameras and keep me posted on Aria’s location throughout the station.” 

Brill nods once more, exiting Nyreen’s quarters along side the turian. Nyreen quickly departs, waving to Brill as the station map begins to light up in alerts, every Talon gathered around it completely lost. Brill runs for the holomap as Nyreen departs, waving off everyone’s concerns. 

”Cerberus is being attacked. Aria T’loak is back to reclaim the station. There’s a fleet outside trying to get in. Escape pods are colliding with the station.” Brill explains, pulling up her omni-tool to access what security systems she can. Even without a direct line, she at least had some cameras thanks to Nova’s systems in place. Except there’s dozens of cameras across the station, and all the viewscreens were beginning to fill with Cerberus responses. Brill lowers the omni-tool for a second, glancing at the Talons gathered around her. “Cerberus is going to respond to the attack. Get men where we can before they start barricading places and cutting off contact. Make sure no civilians get caught in the crossfire.” She glances back at her omni-tool still scrolling. 

A brief moments passes, before Brill glances back up to realize no one had quite moved yet. “The fuck are you doing? I said move! NOW!” Brill hisses, the order making all of them jump and scramble. “You two.” She points at two Talons, stopping them dead in their tracks. “Stay at the holomap and deal with those who are still out on the field. I don’t want them out there blind to what’s going on. Keep them updated and make sure our line of communication doesn’t cease.” They quickly nod, returning to the holomap to do just that. The chaos having been dealt with, Brill turns back to her omni-tool, her right hand going to her ear and tapping an earpiece. 

”Nyreen.” She states, not even waiting for a confirmation. “I don’t have a clear view but it looks like Cerberus activity is heading towards the Defense System Station. Their forces are converging in that area; Hangar Bay 28.” Brill stops, finding a camera in the bay. A crashed escape pod still smoking and surrounded by dead Cerberus troops. “One point of entry, looks like they’re moving fast.” 

Brill frantically tries to follow the path, finding whatever camera she can that leads from the Hangar Bay 28 to the defense systems. The first ship was shot down by the turrets, their target to get the rest of their fleet in would be to head there, but damn. Even as Brill frantically flips through cameras, she’s met with hallways filled with dead bodies of Cerberus troopers. “They’re moving really fucking fast. I can’t pinpoint where they are right now, but-” 

Something catches in Brill’s throat, her chest tightening as her hands still, a security camera view having been just pulled up on her omni-tool. Even from the blurred connection she could still make out the figure on the camera, her mouth slowly opening, her breathing stopped the omni-tool shaking only slightly.

_”It’s utterly impenetrable—with it’s own secret hangar and dock.”_ Brill’s feed is barely connected to the source, the sound coming out a bit garbled but clear enough for her to recognize the voice. _”Independent power source, life support, munitions. You’ll see.”_ Brill clenches her hand into a fist, struggling for a moment and reminding herself to breathe evenly, blinking several times to relax herself. Her hands ceases their shaking, but the tightness in her chest remains. 

_”Aria, look!”_ Brill’s eyes narrow as the voice of another comes through, but whoever it is isn’t visible via the camera. At the words, Aria T’loak looks up and locks onto the security camera, brow lowering at the realization. The asari takes a step forward, raising her gun. At the sound of a gunshot, the feed turns to static. 


	12. Chapter 12

Dealing with the chaos ensuing due to the sudden and overwhelming Cerberus forces reacting to Aria’s attack. Luckily, Cerberus had more important things in mind and focused all their forces into one location; where Aria was headed and looks like eventually bunkered up. No doubt where Nyreen is now. Some time after the altercation Brill picked up on the security cameras, Nyreen requested radio silence. Brill was all to happy to provide, but the silence from Nyreen was still, uneasy. 

Still, at least with Aria’s attacks, Cerberus was being handled… for now. Brill kept her eyes on the schematic of Omega floating in front of her, her eyes narrowing like she was expecting it to give her answers. Luckily, her omni-tool suddenly illuminating on her wrist made her silently sigh, closing her eyes briefly at relief. 

”Took you long enough.” Brill keyed her earpiece, speaking as soon as she did. “Where are you?” 

”I’m nearby. How are things holding up?” Straight back to business. Brill quickly bites back the next question, shaking her head to clear her head of it, turning back to the matter at hand.

”Smooth. With Cerberus focusing on other things, looks rather… quiet?”

”BOSS!” Brill glances up, looking at the Talon who spoke. “Scouts report Cerberus forces massing outside the territory! They’re attacking one of our outposts!”

”Well.” Brill begins, quickly regretting her choice of words that she said to Nyreen. “Except for that.” Brill quickly closes the holomap, unclipping her gun from her hip. “I’m heading out. Seal the doors to the catwalk after I leave, I’m moving to intercept, don’t open those doors again until Nyreen or my signal.” A few Talons nod their acknowledgement, leaving Brill to quickly depart the area until she gets to the catwalk, waiting to hear the satisfying click of the doors locking behind her. 

”Good. Meet me at the cargo hangar near the landing pads, we can intercept Cerberus there so they don’t get our supplies.” Nyreen’s orders come clear and crisp, Brill nodding to herself as she keys her earpiece to silence any further contact until they regroup.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Brill regroups with Nyreen just nearby the cargo hangar, signs of battle already ringing around them, even inside the building itself. Instead of rushing in, Nyreen grabs Brill’s arm, gesturing to the roof of the building. “We’re heading up.” 

The words make Brill cock an eyebrow, glancing up, guessing on just how tall the building is. “Right. You’re kidding.” She observes, looking back at Nyreen who simply rolls her eyes, taking a second to jog before letting her biotics propel her upwards, catching the ledge of the roof to pull herself up. “Not kidding.” She nods, answering her own statement for Nyreen. She turns to take a couple more steps back, giving herself some room for a running start, before doing just that. Brill’s ears pop as she jumps, feeling her biotics lurch from the bottom of her feet, throwing herself up, the side of the building comes up fast as she holds the palm of her hand out, giving herself a biotic cushion so she doesn’t face plant the building. Instead of catching the edge of the roof, she grabs Nyreen’s lowered arm, the turian helping pull the human up.

Secure on the roof, Nyreen gestures to a hatch not too far off, open and inviting. Sounds of battle from within seeming to have ceased, the likelihood of Cerberus being the ones who were defeated, slim. Nyreen and Brill make their way to the hatch, Brill hoping down first onto a support beam for the ceiling, the turian following quickly behind her.

”Where is target Alpha and Beta?” The mechanized voice of a Cerberus trooper rings true through the insides of the building, making Brill glance at Nyreen, grinning slightly at the mention.

The scene below looks grim, five plus Cerberus men holding two Talons to their knees, weapons aimed and ready. Brill looks up at Nyreen, crouched and observing the scene. Right now they’re unnoticed, but at the present moment its best to wait for the right moment to take free the two Talons and take down Cerberus. A quick glance from Nyreen makes Brill gesture her head forward, both of them taking stride to cross the banister, moving to hover closer to the edge of the room 

”Answer now.” One of the Cerberus Engineers insists, shoving the human Talon mercenary, gun pressing against the side of his head. “Last chance, Talon! Answer or…”

Nyreen quickly holds up her hand, balled in a fist, Brill ceases any movement, her brows furrowing in confusion, Nyreen’s finger points towards the far door to answer.

The door at the far side of the room suddenly opens, an armed human soldier and Aria emerging from it, guns targeting the Cerberus troops.

”What the?” One Cerberus troop quickly takes notice of their arrival, the rest responding to the intruder. 

”Back off.” The Engineer keeps the gun on the Talon’s head. 

”I don’t think so.” The human soldier, her gun trained on the troops with Aria standing by her side.

”There’s our distraction.” Nyreen murmurs. Brill quickly glances up at the turian just in time to see her move, quickly shuffling across the beam to loom just over the largest cluster of troops and the two Talons. Brill quickly follows, keeping her pistol ready. Nyreen stops, hovering at the edge of the beam as she looks down, just above the Engineer, his gun still on the Talon.

With a firm hand still on the Talon’s shoulder, the Cerberus trooper instead aims the gun at the Talon’s knee, firing off one shot causing the Talon to exclaim in pain. Still not satisfied, the trooper pressed his foot into the bullet wound, causing the Talon to scream, the trooper quickly raises his gun back to the Talon’s head.

Nyreen fires a quick shot, square in the chest of the Cerberus trooper, him crumpling over backwards. She doesn’t waste a second before she leaps down into the fray, landing gracefully and proceeding to kick the next nearest trooper square in the chest, sending him flying back. Brill quickly follows suit, dropping down beside Nyreen just as another trooper foolishly rushes the turian, only to be met with Brill’s elbow to the side of his head using her biotics enough to propel the trooper across the room. Another run at Brill from her side but Nyreen quickly dispatches them with a shot to the head. Brill quickly turns, clipping her pistol back to her hip, the remaining two troopers rushing at Nyreen with her back turned to them. Brill’s biotics crackle at the palm of her hands, the resounding pop sending the two flying back into the wall and crumpling down to the floor.

Nyreen straightens up, glancing behind her to inspect Brill’s handiwork, her back turned to Aria and Shepard as lets Brill help the two Talons back to their feet. The human soldier and Aria having already lowered their weapons and slowly approaching the two of them. 

Nyreen keeps herself turned away from them even as they approach, instead looking to Brill. “Take care of the wounded and scavenge what you can. I want us out of here ASAP.” Brill nods, opening her omni-tool to do just that.

Brill turns as the door behind them opens and three more Talons enter the room. “You heard her. Let’s move it.” She closes her omni-tool and nods at the new Talons who just arrived. Nyreen finally turns to look at the human soldier and Aria, both of which remain still, rather perplexed. 

”Looks like we found the Talon leader.” The human soldier comments to Aria.

Aria doesn’t hear her, her eyes locked instead to the dark skinned human who stands just beside Nyreen, clad in the armor that all the other Talons wear. Brill glances over her shoulder, locking eyes with Aria’s for the briefest of moments before Brill brakes the contact and looks to Nyreen who walks towards her.

Aria shakes her head clear, instead glaring daggers at Nyreen whom she approaches, a slight venom in her voice. “My, my. Nyreen, aren’t you full of surprises?” Brill watches Nyreen and Aria walk past, catching another glimpse from the corner of Aria’s eyes. With some proding, Brill looks away from the asari, instead looking to her companion, the strange female soldier clad in armor, a rather strange detail emblazoned on the right breastplate; _N7_. Recognition strikes Brill for a brief moment, a name instantly coming to her mind from the times she had seen the news-vids that came from elsewhere; Shepard.

Instead of answer, Nyreen takes interest in a dead Cerberus soldier, looking through the supplies he held. “Aria. The deception was necessary. I needed to figure out what your plans were.” She stands back up, keeping her back to them. “The people on Omega depend on us. I couldn’t risk compromising our operation.” She turns to Aria, her eyes narrowing at the Queen.

Brill motions the Talons towards an elevator as the trio speaks, returning to her duties despite the… awkwardness of it all. She orders two Talons to stand guard at a door while the others follow her up the elevator to gather the supply crates on the above level. Crates of Eezo and other supplies to help their attacks against the Cerberus occupation. She waves at the krogan to begin moving the cargo while she watches the discussion from above. 

”Not exactly standard procedures for a street gang.” Shepard remarks.

”When Cerberus invaded, everything was a mess. I brought… new direction.” Nyreen turns away, not wanting to elaborate. She makes her way to a console that continuously beeps. Aria looks to Shepard, confused, only shrugging as they follow her to the console. “The general’s been hunting us ever since. Right now, he’s attacking one of our main outposts. That’s where I need to be.”

Brill looks quickly to the krogan as he moves the crates, he looks up to nod at Brill, nodding in return. Brill hops down from the banisters, using her biotics to slow her fall briefly before she lands and approaches Nyreen where she stands at the console. “We’re all done here.” Brill says, keeping her eyes on Nyreen, despite the burning eyes she can feel off to her side.

”Right.” She steps back from the console, glancing briefly at Brill to nod at her, confirming the information. “Aria, Commander Shepard: whatever you’re here for, the answer’s no. Kindly escort yourselves off Talon territory.” Brill steps away, taking her distance as Nyreen instead turns her attention to Shepard and Aria, harshness in her voice as she speaks.

”We’re here to help. We’ll talk about it after we reach your outpost.” Shepard added.

Nyreen’s eyes narrows at the statement, taking a cautious step towards them which Aria returns with her own firm stride. “That’s a generous offer. Aria, does the commander also speak for you?” Her voice only slightly cloying, knowing full well how pissed off it’ll make Aria.

Aria takes a moment to glare at the turian, biting her lip. “Not the way I would have put it, but that’s the idea.” She declares.

Nyreen’s mandibles flinches with what could have resembled a smirk as she steps past Aria and make her way past the Talon troops that continues to move the cargo out of the room. “All right, then. Come with me.” She make her way to to door where the Talon troops had come through. Brill jogs up behind them, standing beside Nyreen for a moment. “Get the cargo to the outpost, Brill. We’ll clear the way.”

Brill nods, acknowledging the order and joins the other Talons in transporting the cargo. At least this way, she could avoid more awkward confrontations with Aria and possibly even Nyreen if this continues.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nyreen, Aria, and Shepard’s progress through the catwalks easily clears a path to the outpost, allowing Brill and her troops an easy passage with the cargo. Although there were a few stray mechs, Brill easily dispatched them with a few bullets. Even as she progresses behind them, she could hear the explosions and gun shots that lay further ahead, thanks to Aria and the other’s handiwork. They make it to the outpost shortly after the trio does, Brill ordering the cargo to be stored away as she make it past the guards to the elevator, she nodded her acknowledgement to them and they handed her the latest reports on a datapad.

The elevator always had a slow agonizing feel to it, like it takes forever to get to the top. Brill stares up as she watches the elevator move, taking a slow deep breath as she considers what possibly lay ahead when she regroups with Nyreen. What was going to happen? Brill quickly shakes her head clear as she makes it to the top. Her omni-tool giving a ring as she steps out and she quickly glances at it, acknowledging the information with a quick message back before she picks up the pace and jogs down the hall where she sees Nyreen and the others, having finally caught up to them.

Brill runs past Aria and Shepard who follows closely behind Nyreen, joining the turian’s side. “Intel reported in. The group of civilians we managed to evac arrived safely at the other outpost.” Brill reports in, keeping stride next to Nyreen, and even there, she could feel Aria’s gaze burning into the back of her head. She hands the datapad to Nyreen.

They make their way to two large blast doors, two guards beside the doors bid welcome to Nyreen and Brill as the doors open. Inside resembles closely to the outpost where Brill had lived for a time, Talons gathering all around, the walls going high upwards, each floor filled with Talons leaning over banisters, waiting to hear the news. It had all been whispers up to now, that Aria T’loak had returned to reclaim what she thought was hers. Except everyone here follows Nyreen now.

The group make their way into the center of the main room. Brill narrows her eyes as she glances at her wrist, recalling another bit of information. “Also, we’ve had routine sweeps report nothing new about the adjutants. As far as we know, they’re still confined.” Brill adds, returning her eyes forward, nodding to the Talons in the room.

”Adjutants?” Shepard asks, the question making Nyreen turn to look at her. Brill stops briefly, having heard the question, but she sahkes her head and continued her way to stand beside her comrades, assessing how the defenses were doing.

”Creatures created by Cerberus. They eviscerate their victims’ DNA, converting them into more adjutants.” Nyreen explains, handing the datapad in her hand to Shepard so she can see.

Shepard holds the datapad up and scans through the information they had so far on the adjutants, most of which they had compiled from first hand experiences with them. Aria steps forward, glancing at Shepard. “Some kind of Reaper-based weapon. I fought with them before. They’re a nightmare.” Aria adds.

Shepard glances down at the datapad, the schematics and brief anatomy of the creatures visible on the pad. “It got worse after you left.” Nyreen speaks up, her voice dropping as she recalls what had happened. “Cerberus lost control of them.” She began to pace. “Those things tore apart the gangs, then attacked everyone in sight.” She continues. “If we hadn’t found a way to contain the rest of them, the entire station would be infected by now.” Nyreen glanced briefly towards Brill before she returns her attention back to Shepard and Aria.

”Keeping your people alive through that couldn’t have been easy.” Shepard observes. 

Nyreen lowers her head, the few Talons and Brill, within earshot, do the same. “I watched friends get turned into monsters, and I had to kill them.” She looks back up with more determination. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have an outpost to defend.” She turns away and briskly strides towards Brill and the others, as if on que, Brill quickly follows Nyreen close by her side as they check the defenses.

”The adjutants really got under her skin.” Aria notes. 

Nyreen make her way up to a small landing to her command console, Brill following closely. It wasn’t until they gets there that Nyreen slams her hands onto the console, exhaling a heavy breath. Brill stops silently beside her, arms at her sides until Nyreen recomposes herself. “Brill, I want you to secure the perimeter, check the catwalk. Make sure no Cerberus slip through the cracks. I’m hoping to keep this outpost for a bit longer or die trying.” She says, her voice hoarse from the recalled memories.

Brill glances briefly behind her. “I can have someone do a perimeter sweep--.” She begins.

”No.” Nyreen breathes. “I trust you to get it done and make sure our defenses are good.” She says over her shoulder, taking a deep breath as she regains her composure and stands up straighter in front of the console. 

Brill nods. “I will.” She steps back, removing the pistol from her hip and leaving Nyreen alone to her thoughts. Brill makes her way down the landing, jogging past Shepard, only slowing briefly to lock eyes with Aria, the blue eyes of the asari narrowing coldly at her. Brill quickly looks away, quickening her pace as she runs past them to do her duty.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Despite Nyreen’s worries, the catwalk is secure, Brill had seen to it. If it wasn’t for the three of them blowing a path through the catwalks, it could have been different, but for now it remained calm. Still, Brill kept her gun at the ready, her eyes scanning the darker corners where the light didn’t quite reach, just in case, her hand adjusting its grip on her gun nervously. Even now, the dark was still her enemy, even more so with the adjutants and Cerberus out there, causing havoc. For now, the adjutants were sealed away in a part of the station, but who knew how long that would last.

A cool feeling sweeps its way across Brill’s back, making her shiver and the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She knew the feeling, knew it all too well, but she refused move, refusing to even acknowledge the presence behind her. Still, a silence settled, with the presence remaining behind her, making Brill sigh.

”Are you going to ask me something or just stand there?” Brill finally asks, breaking the silence, yet still refusing to turn.

”You…” A voice finally comes, gripped with anger, pain, and confusion, as Brill expected. “Why? Why are you here? Why are you standing beside Nyreen like you’re….” _Her second._ She knew Aria had meant to say it, but couldn’t bring herself to demand those words, the venom within her voice alone said it.

Brill reclipped her pistol to her hip, finally turning to face Aria. What she sees she had expected, the asari is livid, her body tense in anger but her eyes read something more of confusion and the demand for answers. From the smell of the ozone, she could tell Aria’s biotics were flaring up from her anger, however briefly. Brill takes a deep breath, keeping herself calm as she returns Aria’s steely confused gaze with her own of placid contempt.

”I stole from you for years for the Blood Pack.” Eyes widen with realization. “Until Nyreen gave me a way out from the Blood Pack’s control, I joined the Talons. Nyreen taught me how to master my biotics, took me under her wing for a time. I was a Talon for a year or so before the Blood Pack tried to kill me, and then I left, needing to escape the mercenary life. Had to find a way to live, so I started building a reputation for myself by confessing to you that the Blood Pack was stealing from you and I was the one doing it, but….” Brill rubs her chin briefly. “Oh, Cerberus took over Omega, of course you pretty much know that already. Nyreen came to me asking for help in fighting back the occupation and I said yes.” Brill let her hand fall to her side, shrugging. “Guess I just… became Nyreen’s right hand man. Is that what your question was?”

Aria grit her teeth, her hands balling into fists as she glares down at Brill. “You… **lied** to me.” Aria hissed.

Brill sighs, shrugging as she glances away. “I’m a Thief.” She looks back at Aria, seemingly bored of the conversation. “You never actually asked me how long I was stealing from you.” She added.

Tendrils of biotics slowly rise from Aria’s skin, her anger rising to Brill’s response, the asari’s anger coming off as the tendrils lick at her skin. Brill doesn’t even have time to respond before her ears pop feeling the rush of air, Aria’s fist appears in an instant, hovering just inches from Brill’s face. Aria’s fist shakes as she holds it, her hand slowly lowering, leaving not even a scratch on Brill. Aria’s anger seething through her teeth in harsh breaths, her dark hooded eyes looking to Brill who remains standing rather calmly, looking up at Aria’s taller form. They remain there, Aria’s blue eyes of anger locked to Brill’s calm brown, staring at each other, searching for something, neither sure of what. 

They weren’t the eyes Aria remembered seeing last, something was different. Deep down inside Brill knew she they did, what did Aria see now? Still the same puny human from before or something more?

Brill wasn’t left in her own thoughts for long before Aria’s hand fists the strap of Brill’s armor, pulling her, Aria’s free hand grasping Brill’s face, the asari’s lips frantically bruising Brill’s own. Brill quickly grasps Aria’s shoulder, forcing the asari back and frantically looking around them. What felt like a cool breeze slithers through Brill’s spine, the hairs on the back of her neck standing once more as she watches Aria breathe heavily. Brill takes a step forward, still lightly holding Aria’s shoulder, taking another step closer, but the asari doesn’t move. She could almost feel Aria’s breath upon her skin.

Brill quickly side steps, grabbing Aria’s forearm and pulling the asari to the side, away from the door to the outpost, just barely out of view from anyone who may be on the catwalk. Aria quickly presses her back against the wall, pulling Brill back to her. A moan escapes Aria’s lips at the contact of the wall, her free hand gripping Brill’s collar and pulling the small human towards her, their lips locking with one another in reckless abandon.

Brill could feel Aria’s hot breath against her lips, opening both their lips for air and the taste of one another. Brill relents, her hands flying to the straps of Aria’s armored jumpsuit at her waist, struggling as she unstraps one clasp. The time it takes to loosen the one strap feels like forever, but it just enough for Brill’s hand to slip beneath the leather of the suit. Sliding her hand beneath Aria’s jumpsuit in what little way she could. Her hand slipping down to cup Aria’s hot and wet azure, Brill’s fingers curling easily as they slip through the wet folds.

The contact make them both moan, releasing from their feverish kiss, their lips instead pressed against each other’s skin, breathing heavily at the brief contact, relishing in the remembered touch. Brill dips her head into the crook of Aria’s neck, breathing heavily as she slides her fingers across Aria’s wet azure, remembering the scent of the asari against her. She could feel Aria’s heavy breathing against her ear, the soft languishing moans of satisfaction that breathes through her lips, the sound alone make Brill quiver, her own body reacting to Aria’s satisfaction.

Brill lets her eyes close, moaning in time to Aria, occasionally dipping her fingers into Aria’s azure to hear the sharp intake of satisfied breath. It makes her relish the familiar feeling of having the asari next to her, the little asari bending to her will. _“I missed you.”_ Brill whispers.

Aria pulls back, holding the sides of Brill’s head to pull the human’s gaze to her own. “Shut up.” She replies sternly, still moaning breathlessly. “And **fuck** me.”

Brill obliges, dipping her fingers deep into Aria’s azure, making the asari throw her head back and moan, biting her lip to silence them. Brill focuses her biotics to her fingers, as she had so many times before, letting the energy flow through her fingertips as she thrust in. Aria quickly bends her head down, biting Brill’s neck to shut her cries, both their bodies shaking as Aria suddenly orgasms onto Brill’s hand, the flare of energy from Brill’s fingers just enough to already throw her over the edge. Brill guides Aria through her orgasm, gently thrusting her fingers into Aria’s azure until the asari’s orgasm fades, Brill’s strokes slowing until she removes her hands from Aria’s slick embrace.

The pair let themselves relax against the wall, taking a moment to catch their breath. Brill moves first, taking a deep breath and swallowing down the moment that just passed, trying to wipe her fingers clean on her leg, stepping back to let Aria compose herself.

Aria only takes a moment after Brill before she straightens herself, tightening the strap at her waist that Brill had loosened. Her cool steely gaze returning, Brill watches her calmly, observing the Queen’s composure return to Aria as she straightens her vest. Aria takes a deep calming breath, letting her body relax before she returns Brill’s gaze, the anger and confusion having now vanished, and the Queen of Omega returning to her eyes. 

”Nyreen will be wanting a report on the perimeter.” Brill states, breaking the silence. Aria nods silently, stepping past Brill to head back to the entrance to the outpost. Brill watches Aria leave, heading back into the outpost to speak to Nyreen. She waits, giving it a second before she follows, to avoid any sort of suspicion, not that there would be any.

Brill stands at the catwalk, her arms folding across her chest, biting the inside of her cheek, shuffling from leg to leg out of boredom and the sheer fact that everything on her own was still…. A sound echoes down the catwalk, drawing Brill’s attention, her hand flying to the pistol at her hip. Brill quickly aims down her sights and pops the head of an approaching Cerberus mech. Shit, where there’s one, there’s sure to be more. Brill takes a retreating step back before she turns and hightails it back into the outpost, ordering the guards to keep an eye on the horizon.

Brill could hear the uproar happening even before she sprinted into the middle of the foyer. The strange feeling around her making her realize she was probably standing outside longer then she had anticipated. What exactly happened? Brill shakes her head, clearing it as she darts closer. “Nyreen! Cerberus is launching another offensive!” 

Nyreen casts a stern gaze at Aria, who seems… rather enthusiastic now. “Looks like I’m not the only one who didn’t like your little speech, Aria.” She retorts, nodding her acknowledgement at Brill. Brill quickly steps back, turning her attention to the main doors. 

”Barriers! Now!” Brill waves at an asari Talon. The defenses on the main door consisting of two mounted guns on either end of the door. The asari responds quickly, throwing up a biotic barrier around herself and the fortified gun behind her. Brill quickly darts over to the matching gun, standing beside it as another asari takes up the mantle and puts up a barrier as well.

Brill turns her head, catching Shepard and Aria heading to the side door towards the landing pads. Aria casts an eye over her shoulder, catching Brill’s gaze just enough for them to nod to one another before departing. Brill’s hands slowly roll into fists, swallowing down the hesitancy she feels as a Talon beside her steps onto the mounted gun. As long as Shepard and Aria fends off Cerberus coming in from the landing dock, the main doors should hold on their own.

It doesn’t take long for orders to be passed, Nyreen taking her position beside Brill, her gun at the ready. “Close the inner doors, lets take them out.” She places a hand on Brill’s shoulder as the place shudders slightly, the door behind them closing and the one in front opening. “Don’t do anything reckless.” She murmurs. 

”Can’t exactly tell me to _not_ do something I’m so good at.” Brill remarks, the door opening slowly, bending down to see there’s already two Atlas mechs waiting from them on the other side.

”You know what I mean.” Nyreen replies, sounding only slightly annoyed. 

”Same to you.” Brill nods. The rest of the Talons around them file forward, the door opens enough for them to file out, quickly taking up shelter at the barricades in front of the door. At the sight of their scrambling forms, the mechs open up, bullets raining in on them. Brill darts forward with them, sliding into place behind a barricade, her pistol snapping into her hand as the bullets soar past her head. 

The mounted guns shielded by the biotic barriers open fire, pelting the mechs with fire, the shields on the mech taking most of the impacts before a sheen of blue flickers and sputters. Brill’s eyes dart to Nyreen, giving orders behind them to the people mounted on the guns. For now, they can deal with the two Atlas. Brill glances back at the other Talons around her, huddled behind barricades. “Focus fire on the ground units. Let the guns take down the big fucks first.” She shouts, popping her head above the cover to demonstrate. With a wave of her hand, biotics flare, grabbing hold of the nearest Cerberus mech and sending them flying to the side, hitting the railing before plummeting to the Omega skyline below.

The rest of the Talons around her follow suit, opening fire as they pop up above their respective cover, peppering Cerberus with fire. Taking down the ground units proves easy enough, the Talons taking down them with ease. Despite their hostile takeover, most of the Cerberus soldiers are basically useless, the ground mechs were always more of the nuisance as wells the Atlases. 

In the fray, one of the Atlas mechs fires a rocket at the biotic shields covering the guns, the shield finally shattering at the impact. Brill bit her lip, watching as another rocket takes down the Talons manning the guns, bringing them down a heavy gun. “Fuck.” Brill takes a second, glancing next to her at another barricade just a few feet away. With the gun taken down, Nyreen moves up, taking up position with the other Talons surrounding Brill. 

With the added cover, Brill quickly tucks and rolls to the barricade next to her. Besides the two heavy guns they had posted at the door, there’s one situated on top of a truck. With enough cover, anyone could run up the ladder and take up a position on the gun. Brill clips her gun to her thigh, sliding along the barricade with her head down low towards the truck, her hand resting on the tires as she glances behind her. The two big mechs still raining fire, taking down several Talons in their wake. With most of the Cerberus ground forces gone, fire needs to be focused on them next. 

Ignoring the ladder, Brill glances up to the truck platform where the gun is stationed, using her biotics to propel her up and onto the bed. Fire quickly turns to Brill at the sight of movement, but the armor on the heavy gun takes the brunt of the fire as Brill presses her back against the body of the gun. The fire from the mechs quickly stops, just a second as the machinery whirls to reload the machine guns on their arms. Brill takes the advantage, popping up and her hands flying to the controls of the heavy gun as she quickly unloads on the nearest Atlast. 

The shielding on the mech having already broken, the bullets from Brill’s gun easily shred through the mech’s remaining armor, sparks flying from its joints as it starts to combust. Brill looks away only briefly as the Atlas explodes, shrapnel flying and dinging off the heavy gun she stands at. “FUCK YES!” Brill throws up her arms in victory, only for them to quickly lower as the last remaining Atlas unloads its gun on her. “SHIT.”

A hand yanks Brill down from the truck bed, pulling her safely behind the truck against its tires. “I said don’t get yourself killed!” Brill shakes herself clear, hitting the ground with a thud as she looks up to see Nyreen, quickly hitting her omni-tool.

”Commander Shepard, we need your help at the main doors.” Nyreen says, keeping behind cover next to Brill. Even from the sound of railing gunfire, Brill hears Nyreen clearly through the mic in her ear, and the following response.

”We’re on our way.” Commander Shepard’s measured response comes through clear. Brill swallows down a lump in her throat, even from the brief holovids she had seen of the Commander, everyone knew how seasoned the human was, a soldier to death. Nothing compared to the street fights of Omega Brill and grown up with. 

A series of rockets from the remaining Atlas steers Brill’s thoughts back to the task, her hand flying for her gun on her thigh as the resulting explosion sends a couple Talons flying in the air. Brill quickly stands, putting her arm in front Nyreen, shielding the turian as much as she can with her own smaller body. Her free hand taking fire at a Cerberus trooper hopping over the barricade towards them. A bullet clips him in the shoulder, making him stagger, but the sound of crushing biotics rolling across the ground is what really sends the trooper flying. Brill quickly cocks her head to the side, catching sight of Aria, her body aglow from the biotic shockwave she had just thrown. The Commander following quickly behind Aria, opening fire with their own assault rifle. 

The rest of the battle is almost a breeze, the Commander’s clean precision easily taking down the remaining Cerberus ground forces and making short work of the remaining Atlas; like watching a master at work. The last Cerberus mech finally going down as Brill lobs her biotics at it, sending it flying over the railing to the skyline below. 

”That’s it!” Nyreen calls. “Cerberus is pulling out. Let’s talk Shepard.” She motions Brill over to her side as she kneels next to a downed Talon, checking vitals to see if they’re still alive. Brill makes it to Nyreen’s side before Shepard does, huffing as she clips her pistol back to her thigh. 

As Shepard approaches, Nyreen finally stands, turning to face the commander. “The Talons will join your cause. Someone’s got to make sure you don’t run roughshod over our people.” She states clearly, nodding at Brill who takes a step back, hands folded behind her back, waiting for orders.

Aria steps beside Shepard, looking smug at Nyreen’s words. “You see, Shepard?”

Nyreen’s eyes narrow at the asari, taking a defensive step back. “Let me guess.” She begins, looking to the commander rather than Aria. “She said I was predictable and therefore easy to manipulate.” She states, only briefly giving Aria a glare before looking back at Shepard for verification. Brill keeps her mouth shut, not sure whether or not to speak or leave the situation to Nyreen to take care of.

”Pretty much word for word. She thinks she’s playing you.” Shepard replies, not sounding too surprised. 

”Nothing new here.” Nyreen adds, rather annoyed, finally, she tilts her head to glare at Aria. “One thing, though: I maintain command over my people. This is _not_ up for debate.” She shakes her head for emphasis. 

”Just have them ready.” Aria replies smugly, almost physically rolling her eyes. Almost. 

”Oh, they’ll be ready.” Nyreen finishes, turning to look at Brill standing behind her and nodding her head towards the main doors. Brill finally takes her cue, walking beside Nyreen as they reenter the outpost together. Brill risks one quick glance behind her, watching Shepard turn to leave, her eyes widening briefly as she locks eyes with Aria. It wasn’t so much the exchange between Aria and Nyreen that shook her, but Aria’s gaze on Brill now, only a split second before Aria grins and turns to follow Shepard. 

Brill snaps her head back, following silently behind Nyreen, her eyes flickering across the ground as she tries to juggle around what’s going through Aria’s mind, much less what was going through her own. At least it looked like Aria wasn’t… upset anymore, but Brill couldn’t determine if that was a good or bad thing quite yet.

Hopefully, when the occupation was finally over, she could figure that out.


	13. Chapter 13

Situating the outpost became second nature, and easy considering the attacking Cerberus forces had been dealt with. Thankfully, all Cerberus forces would be more focused on dealing with Aria’s threat than the Talon threat. With them working together now, it was more important to deal with Aria first than a little mercenary group rebelling. Aria T’loak was the Queen, she knew the ins and outs of the station, so crippling the Cerberus hold would be too easy.

Under Nyreen’s instruction, Brill situated everyone, making sure everyone was more than ready for Aria’s signal to attack, taking care of those who are wounded and making sure others were combat ready. With the goal being Afterlife, the Talon forces needed to amass somewhere close for when the shields came down. 

To Nyreen, it was obvious the plan Aria had in mind, without even discussing it. While Brill readied the Talons, Aria and Shepard would head down into the mines to take out the reactor, thus shutting down the pesky Cerberus shields that blocked access to Afterlife. From there, the Talons would push through, knocking down most of the Cerberus forces. The most important part being to knock out the force fields. If they failed at that, there would be no point even attacking Afterlife, they’d never get to it.

All they needed now was an assurance that this was the plan. Either way, at the word, there was sure to be a battle. Brill took it upon herself to head to the armory to gather more gear for the impending fight. She had the normal chest piece, but more armor wouldn’t hurt, especially if she was going to lead the Talons while Nyreen helped Aria.

Brill was tightening some straps to some greaves on her calves when she heard Nyreen enter the armory. At the moment, there was no one else inside, leaving the place to themselves. 

Brill paid no mind to Nyreen as she approached, paying more attention to tightening her boots as she heard the turian stop, standing only a few feet from her. “So.” Brill deliberately takes her time tightening the straps on her boots, waiting for Nyreen to speak her mind before even bothering to look at the turian. “How long have you been sleeping with Aria?” 

Brill’s hands cease their movement on her boots. She leans back, dropping her leg down from where she had it propped up. Instead of answer, she focuses next on the fact that her pistol is still magnetically clipped to her thigh. It wasn’t like she was deliberately making Nyreen wait, she just wasn’t sure how to respond, whether to lie or tell her the whole truth. At present, she couldn’t imagine why it would even matter. For a while, it was more of a question about whether or not people would believe her if she said she was.

Nyreen sighs, drawing Brill’s gaze to look at the turian. “It…. Nevermind, its not important for me to know.” Nyreen crosses her arms, closing her eyes as she lets out a slow breath, like she’s trying to calm herself. “Not my place to interfere, just…” She heaves a heavy sigh, looking back at Brill with a solemn gaze. “I don’t want you… losing yourself.”

Brill’s brow perked up at that, confused. “What’s that suppose to mean?” She asks, not understanding her meaning.

”Nothing.” Nyreen shakes her head, uncrossing her arms. “I’m headed out, keep an eye on us?” She places a talon on Brill’s shoulder, a small grin playing across her mandibles. 

Brill offers a small smile in return, feeling a small solace knowing Nyreen feels better with Brill having an eye in the sky on the security cameras. “If you’re heading towards one of the reactors… once you’re in the mines I won’t have a lot of access down there. This is where you promise me you won’t get yourself killed.” Brill shakes her head, brushing off Nyreen’s talon. “I’ll get everyone in order.” She shrugs, grinning. “We’ll be waiting for your signal, Nyreen. You better get going before… before Aria decides to do reckless before you can stop her.”

Nyreen chuckles. “I don’t think you know Aria at all. I trust you to keep things afloat while I’m out of radio contact.” She steps back, nodding.

Brill taps the mic in her ear, indicating she still has it. “I’ll be listening in when I can, so try not to talk shit about me.” Nyreen grins before shoving Brill back with the palm of her talon on Brill’s face. 

”Just try and stop me.” Brill shakes herself, lightly fixing her bangs that Nyreen had misplaced in her playful shove. With that, Nyreen gives a small salute to Brill and finally turns to leave, leaving Brill alone in the armory. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Monitoring Nyreen’s progress is easy enough via the control console at HQ. With all the Talon forces ready an assembled, it became a matter of waiting for Nyreen and the others to make their move. Brill being more than willing to play the waiting game, until the trio began to close in on the reactor. The deeper they got to the mines, the less cameras Brill could access, and Nyreen’s personal comms became nothing but static. 

The strain of the wait slowly crept into Brill’s brow, making her close her eyes and rub between her eyes as she groans. A sudden hand on the shoulder making her jump, eyes springing wide as she quickly turns her head to the turian standing beside her. “Fuck, Amvius, I thought you knew better than to sneak up on me.” She snaps. 

Amvius’s mandibles flicker amusingly, lowering his talon. “I enjoy it too much. Any word from Nyreen?” He motions to the blank screens. Before, everyone had a view of the trio’s progress, but now there was nothing.

Brill shakes her head in response, turning back to the blank screens. Despite the constant static in her ear, she kept Nyreen’s comms open, on chance she catches word again from the turian. “No, and the force fields are still up. I have no way of knowing whether or not they’re dead.” She frowns, rubbing her crease between her eyes once more. “Or stuck.” 

Amvius shakes his head, admiring Brill’s slight restraint to not being in control of the situation. “They’ll get the force fields down; we just have to wait.” 

Brill bites her lip at the statement, waiting. How long did she have to wait for Aria to come back? How long has she been waiting her whole life? She quickly shakes her head, her hand resting against her chest where she knew her pendant rested. Ever since the occupation began, she found herself wearing it more and more, as a reminder, although she wasn’t sure if it was a pleasant one. 

”Look, Brill.” She feels his reassuring reach before he even touches her, Brill instinctively swatting his talon way from her before he makes contact. 

”I’m fine, Amvius. I’d appreciate it if you stopped asking me every minute.” She snaps, keeping her eyes trained on the empty screens. Amvius takes a step back, knowing when to keep his distance and his mouth shut. It isn’t until a beat of silence has passed that she finally breathes a deep sigh. “I know you’ve been wanting to talk, you want to ask me about what happened when everything went down. You want to talk about… people, but I’m _fine_.” Brill stresses, finally turning to look up at Amvius. “I don’t… _can’t_ dwell on it, so please stop trying to ask me. Its been months, just stop.” With that, she turns back to the screens, her hands resting on the consoles as she leans forward. Thankfully, Amvius remains silent, and doesn’t leave either, as Brill could still feel him standing beside her. She is happy that he chooses to remain silent though, her attention pooled back to the screens as she waits for any sort of change.

”There!” Amvius points, Brill’s eyes jumping to a security camera view. Forcefields fading, Cerberus troopers starting to panic at the flickering shields. The screens are suddenly filled with all the same, the force fields coming down. Cerberus troopers appear to be in a panic, while the people behind the fields begin to rush, chaos beginning to ensue.

”They did it.” Brill snaps around, spinning on her heel. “Get our forces into position to start moving on Afterlife, I need our patrols to head to civilian populated areas. Cerberus is going to push back against them and hit hard for control.” She barks, Amvius seeming to smile as she jumps to do as he’s told. “You!” Brill snaps a finger at another Talon standing not too far off. “Start gathering in reports from our patrols, keep me posted on what’s going on around us. We’re headed for Gozu District the moment we hear from Nyreen.” 

”Yes ma’am!” The Talon responds, jumping to action as soon as possible. 

The constant static in Brill’s ear suddenly ceases, Brill’s chest thudding as she hears Nyreen’s voice flickering as she comes back. It’s patchy and Brill can’t even make out what the turian is saying, but she’s there, still fucking alive. 

”She’s never been big on thank-yous.” Nyreen’s voice comes through clearly this time, making Brill breathe a sigh of relief. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath. 

”Never thought I’d be happy to hear you nagging in my ear.” Brill mumbles, knowing well enough that Nyreen can hear her now. 

There’s a moment of silence on the other end, making Brill grin and shake her head. _“Same.”_ Brill’s grin only gets wider at the sound of Nyreen’s response, her voice being playful. At least from the sound of it, everything went smoothly taking down the reactor. 

”I’ve got signs of all force fields coming down.” Brill begins, eyeing the security footage as she fills Nyreen in. “Civilians are coming up and causing chaos. Looks like Cerberus is pulling back.” She listens as Nyreen repeats Brill’s words to her companions. Despite the ear piece, Brill isn’t able to hear anything Shepard or Aria says in response to the reports, but she can clearly hear Nyreen’s words in return. 

_”The people don’t have the training to go up against Cerberus front lines. They’ll be wiped out.”_ Nyreen begins, obviously on the defense against letting them die. Brill steps away from the console, waving a Talon away as she walks, thinking it over. No doubt Nyreen will want to push to defend the civilians, most of that already being done. _“Say what you will, Aria. I don’t allow senseless deaths.”_ There’s another moment of silence. _“Of course, Commander.”_

Also typical, Brill muses, she can’t even hear Aria’s words but knows well enough to guess what the asari responded with. The human with them on the other hand… there isn’t much to go on. Brill makes her way to the HQ entrance, grabbing an assault rifle from a Talon and checking the heat sink inserted inside.

 _”Of course, but don’t count on me building your memorials if you get yourselves killed.”_ Nyreen retorts in Brill’s ear, making her stop briefly to cock her head to the side in amusement. 

”Since I promised not to get myself killed, could you at least build me a memorial for the amount of ryncol I can drink?” Brill says, slinging the gun over her shoulder to latch on to her back as she speaks. “It’d be a nice remember-me-by. When we kick Cerberus ass and I possibly die from alcohol poisoning.” 

Despite the brief silence, Brill can barely hear Nyreen’s chuckle. _”Can’t build one if you die on the first drink.”_ She finally comments.

”As long as you buy me one, when this shit show is over.” Brill adds, motioning to some Talons to stand with her. 

_”Deal.”_ Nyreen playfully agrees. Her voice quickly dropping as she returns to the more serious matter. _”Cerberus is trying to bomb the central support columns, Aria and Shepard are headed to stop them. We’ll regroup with them in the markets.”_ Brill nods, acknowledging the information.

”Talons are ready to move out.” Brill turns to see the forces gathered behind her, grinning. “I’ll see you in five minutes.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Brill and the Talons regroup with Nyreen in a matter of minutes. As soon as they do, the war for Omega really begins. With Nyreen by her side, Brill and the Talons push against the opposing Cerberus forces with vigor, helping fend them off as they try to poor into the streets, seeking to control the populace. With each push civilians cheer, some even taking up the fallen weapons of Cerberus soldiers to join in the fight. As they progress, Nyreen contacts Shepard and Aria, keeping them posted on the Talon assault. At the speed they’re going, and the joining amounts of fighters, they’re due to hit the Gozu District any minute, on schedule. Despite their continuing advance, the fact that the force is struggling against the Cerberus stronghold still remains eminent.

Following beside Nyreen is second nature, a natural feeling as Brill keeps close to her. The Talons behind them, they feel stronger than ever, both moving almost in sync, when Nyreen staggers one soldier, Brill blasts them away with her biotics. The rhythm is autopilot and Brill keeps on it until a voice filters in through Nyreen’s personal comms, making its way to Brill’s ear. 

_”Nyreen, things are under control here. What’s your situation?”_ Aria comes through clearly, the voice of the asari in Brill’s ear gives her pause, but she quickly regains her focus. 

Nyreen fires off a few quick shots at soldiers, Brill quickly blasting the soldiers with her biotics, throwing them up against walls. “We’re advancing through the Gozu district.” Nyreen replies, nodding at Brill as she straightens up. 

Brill glances behind her, flagging her hand ahead of her. “Move forward! Keep that flank covered!” Brill snaps, Talons quickly rushing past her to take up position. Talons hop over the barrier, quickly taking position as a door opens and a few Cerberus flood in. Civilians in the fray quickly turn away to run, but the new Cerberus soldiers quickly gun them down before turning their fire to the Talons.

Nyreen hunkers down behind the cover beside Brill, holding her weapon ready. “We’re holding our own, but Cerberus has started targeting civilians.” She glances up at Brill, her eyes narrowing as she points above her eye. Brill hesitates, lifting her hand up to her forehead, feeling something wet as soon as she touches it. Brill lowers her hand, noticing the blood on her fingers. “Reports of casualties are coming in from all sectors.” Brill shakes her head, wiping at her forehead with her forearm to avoid the blood from getting to her eyes. 

_”Save those you can, and head for the rendezvous point. We’ll meet you there.”_ Aria responds. Brill briefly closing her eyes to take a deep calming breath. 

The brief moment is enough, Brill quickly jumping up and swinging herself over the barrier. Her biotics flare around her, tendrils licking at her skin as she blasts the opposing Cerberus back into the door they had just come from. Nyreen quickly follows behind her, gunning down the ones Brill tossed with her gun. “We’ll do what we can. Nyreen out.” Nyreen replies, sidling herself against the door frame, Brill running to the other side. 

Brill glances at Nyreen, quickly wiping at her forehead again as she feels blood start to drip down once more. “Harder than it looks.” She comments, reaching over her shoulder to unclip the assault rifle from her back and hold it in both hands. 

”Nothing you can’t handle.” Nyreen remarks, nodding towards the door before slipping through it to continue their advance. Brill grins before following quickly behind Nyreen. 

”Move up!” Brill shouts behind her. Talons quickly file in, laying down cover fire as they push up. The resulting fire makes Cerberus pull back, however briefly, enough for Brill to shoulder herself against new cover. 

”Lay down cover fire for the Civilians to get out!” Nyreen shouts across the gunfire. Brill and the Talons quickly respond, laying down heavy suppressing fire as frantic civilians come out of their hiding spots and run frantic to the door the others had just come from. 

_”Nyreen. Aria and I are entering the Gozu district.”_ An unknown voice comes through the comms, Brill shooting a glance at Nyreen across the battlefield as it does. Most likely Commander Shepard.

”Understood.” Nyreen replies, looking over at Brill with a nod. 

Brill takes a quick breath, closing her eyes as she does and snapping them open. Her biotics instantly flare up and she leans out over her cover quickly, tossing her biotics onto the ground like an extension of herself. Her biotics rip across the ground, bouncing with each contact until it hits a cluster of Cerberus soldiers, a crack resulting as it sends the soldiers flying in every direction. The Talons take the advantage, quickly advancing to fill in the void. 

”Clear out Cerberus!” Nyreen shouts, the Talons quickly laying waste to any remaining soldiers. “Set up a foot hold here. If we lose Afterlife, this is where we will regroup.” She instructs. Brill nods, motioning to those around her to follow orders, shouldering her weapon and jogging over the Nyreen once she’s sure the Talons have it under control. 

”Now we wait?” Brill asks, stopping to stand beside Nyreen. 

”Now we take care of our wounded, Talons and civilians.” Nyreen replies, tilting her head at Brill for a moment. She reaches a talon towards Brill’s head, noticing the slow stream of blood. “Something must have nicked you in that explosion earlier.” 

Brill waves Nyreen’s hand aside, batting it away and rolling her eyes. “I’m fine, don’t worry about it. Let’s set up a defensive perimeter around the area until Aria regroups with us.” She offers. 

Nyreen nods, shouldering her own weapon as she surveys the damage. “This area should hold as a checkpoint, until they arrive.” She gestures for Brill to follow as she begins to walk. “Shouldn’t be much longer before Aria regains her _throne_.”

Brill quickly keeps step beside Nyreen, despite the turian’s longer frame. “Nyreen, I know you have an… agenda to protect the people of Omega and Aria doesn’t… listen very well, but what exactly do you--.” Nyreen instantly turns around, holding up a hand to halt Brill’s words. 

”Now isn’t the time to talk about this, Brill.” Nyreen begins, lowering her hand with a sigh. “I have… a past with Aria, one I’m not welcome to talk about right now…. _Considering_.” She states. The last word makes Brill take a step back, glancing away from Nyreen, almost shameful. Nyreen rests a talon on Brill’s shoulder, bringing the human back to look at her. “I need you to focus right now on what’s important: we make it through this.”

Brill can’t help but grin, brushing Nyreen’s talon off her shoulder nonchalantly. “You do owe me a celebratory drink.” She remarks, making Nyreen chuckle. “But I’m here, in the moment. What’s going on with me and Aria isn’t going to distract me from that.”

”I know.” Nyreen can’t help but gaze down fondling at Brill, nudging the human with her arm before turning away. “We’ll secure this area until they arrive and then make our move to Afterlife.” 

”What happens after that?” Brill asks. 

”I…” Nyreen’s voice trails off for a moment, glancing around her at the Talons as they fortify the position. She lifts up a talon against the side of her head. “Nyreen here. Something’s not right.” Brill perks up at the statement, glancing around her as well. It’s the end of the perimeter to their temporary checkpoint. No Cerberus in sight at this point, yet they’re so close to Afterlife. “Not what I was talking about.” Whatever Nyreen was responding to, Brill fails to hear. “I’m checking this out. Going radio silent.” Nyreen opens her omni-tool without another word and closes off her comms, turning to look at Brill. “Keep position here. I’ll be back.”

Brill nods, grabbing Nyreen’s arm before she can depart. “Be careful, si--.” She stops herself, biting her tongue as she almost slips. A momentary silence falls between the two of them as Brill quickly recomposes herself, looking up at Nyreen with a look. “Be careful.” Nyreen nods, slipping from Brill’s grip to venture up ahead… alone. 

A minute or so passes in silence, Brill keeping an eye on the perimeter with two other Talons taking guard behind some crates. The elevator behind Brill suddenly opens, her eyes widening as she watches Aria and Shepard walk out from it. 

Shepard does a quick glance. “Where’s Nyreen?” She demands, looking at Brill for answers.

Brill’s gaze flickers to Aria for a moment before returning Shepard’s, nodding behind her. “Scouting ahead. She felt something off and someone needs to keep a hold on this area.” She replies. She waves at one of the Talons keeping guard, him stepping down to move a crate out of the way to allow them passage through.

”She’s going on to Afterlife!” Aria shouts, not even wasting a moment before she bolts through the opening, gun at the ready.

Shepard quickly follows, Brill’s eyes follow but she shakes herself free and follows behind them. “I’m coming with you.” She says, to herself more than anyone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The entrance to Afterlife is a wreckage as soon as they arrive. A soon as the doors open, Brill is sprinting past Aria and Shepard, using her biotics to propel her forward without so much as a whim. Her eyes darting around the area as she surveys what’s going on. 

Nyreen. Alone. Five Adjutants surrounding her right in front of Afterlife, a few civilians a few feet from her. The moment instantly clicks with Brill’s mind, without even seeing the belt of grenades that Nyreen grabs. A biotic forcefield throws itself around the Adjutants and Nyreen, encompassing her, the enemies and the grenades.

”NO!” Brill screeches, feeling something stop her in her tracks, letting Aria and Shepard pass by her in their desperate attempt to intervene. Nyreen looks towards them, her gaze slipping from Aria before settling on Brill. Nyreen’s eyes never leave Brill’s even as the clicks of the grenades grow faster, ending in a long steady stream of sound, the deafening sound of ringing in Brill’s ear. 

The grenades explode. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for it being so short, but I think it should be.


	14. Chapter 14

The ringing continues in Brill’s ears, a deafening silence that makes her arms go numb, her knees buckling but keeping her afloat. Once she hits the ground, there’s no getting up, no more, not after everything. Brill’s eyes remain on the dark spot on the ground, scorched and still on fire where Nyreen once stood. Her hands slowly reach to her ears, numb to herself as she covers her ears to try and block out the ringing. 

A silence lingers as Brill rests her hands over her ears, still staring at the scorch marks. _Papa._ Nothing else around her but Brill’s own thoughts as the familiar name comes to her, the only sound she can hear. _Mother. Leona. Nova._ Brill’s eyes close as she bites her lip. “Nyreen.” She murmurs, keeping the name on her lips. The family Omega had given to her and swiftly taken away just the same. She still lived because of them because of her family, they fought for her despite all her problems and weaknesses. She was weak; scared of the dark, scared of killing people, and she was lost.

What had Omega taught her so far? With her constant insistence to remain, watching others go but keeping her foot to the ground and remain there despite the times she had a chance to leave. Why? To teach herself to fight back to no longer be scared? To finally stop feeling lost, find a place, find what she was meant for? Once your knees hit the pavement its over, you’re dead on Omega, let it crush you and there’s no way you’ll survive. She learned that lesson too early on, she was just a child. What had she learned now? What had Nyreen been trying to teach her?

To keep fighting.

Brill’s eyes snap open, her hands dropping from her ears. She catches the backside of Shepard as they run into Afterlife, taking the fight to the Cerberus fuck. The civilians Nyreen saved having run towards Brill’s direction, keeping a distance from Afterlife and bewildered at what had just transpired. 

”What happened?”

”Those things were coming for us.”

”She saved us.”

”Who?”

”Nyreen. That turian who was fighting Cerberus. She saved us.”

”Spirits… she’s dead.”

Brill grabs the pistol on her thigh approaching the civilians. “And she’d do it all again if she could.” She states, drawing their attention to her. “Cerberus is losing control of this station _now_. You can either help me kick the rest of them off this station or I can take you somewhere safe until we deal with them.” She gestures behind her where she is headed. “Your choice, but its not safe here.” She turns and runs, not bothering to check to see if they’re following her. 

Brill reaches the elevator she came up on, filing it and waiting for the civilians who followed to pile in, pressing a button on the interface. As soon as the elevator doors close, Brill opens her omni-tool. “Amvius.”

_”Brill!? What’s going on?”_ Amvius comes through on the comms, sounding almost panicked and confused. 

”Nyreen is dead.” Brill answers, even the silence over the comms speaks volumes about how Amvius takes the news. “Its time we get Cerberus off this station. Advance our forces towards Afterlife. Aria is dealing with the General, we clean up the rest of the Cerberus forces. Also,” she glances around the elevator at the civilians. “I have civilians with me, I’m bringing them to the rendezvous point. Get them to safety. Once I arrive, I’m taking a force with me to the docks. I’m either spacing the remaining Cerberus forces or letting them leave on their ships. They’re choice.”

There’s silence from Amvius’s end, but he doesn’t let it linger. _“Done. The Talons are with you, Brill.”_ He states, the affirmation making Brill stand up straighter. He had once told her Nyreen’s goal was to have Brill lead them, but she had never believed him. Until now. 

They arrive at the checkpoint in less than a minute, Talons quickly taking the civilians to safety while Brill strides through them, holding her head high with gun in hand. “Have our forces at Afterlife keep the entrance secure, don’t allow Cerberus in or out of Afterlife until the General is defeated.” She turns to the group of Talons following behind her. “We’re heading to the docks. Its time we remove the Cerberus stench from there and let our people in.” They all nod in unison, holding their weapons ready. “Then let’s move.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

With the forcefields around Omega gone, Brill and the Talons make short work advancing to the docks. Gunning down any Cerberus troopers putting up a resistance and ushering those who surrender onboard ships with instruction to leave and never come back. A lot more Cerberus quickly surrenders than Brill had expected, throwing down their guns in surrender and filing away until most of the Cerberus ships had cleared out of the docking bays.

A crackle of static echoes through the docking bay, making Brill and her Talons glance up, curious as to the sound. _”Citizens of Omega, hear me. I, Aria T’loak, have given you back your lives.”_ So, the General is defeated. Brill glances behind her to see her Talons looking triumphant, some high fiving each other. _”My rule is reignited. My hand is on the controls once more, and I will not let go again.”_ Her voice comes through stern, forceful, determined. Brill’s eyes linger on the ceiling of the bay, imagining Aria standing at the console as she speaks, as if the asari was standing in front of her. _”Each of you owes a debt. Gain my favor by rounding up the remaining Cerberus invaders, and…”_ a pause. _“and we will cast them from our home, then bury and mourn our dead.”_ Brill looks down from the ceiling, her eyes scanning around her, never really focusing on anything. _”My methods haven’t always been popular and I can’t promise that will change. But securing this station and everyone inside it is now my primary purpose. No one will imprison us again.”_ She finishes the end of her statement sternly.

_”We may be bruised. We may be bloodied. But we are Omega!”_ The Talons behind Brill cheer, renewing their vigor to cleanse the station of Cerberus. Brill lets them scatter, the sooner Cerberus is removed the sooner they can begin to rebuild, to rest. 

Brill remains where she is, her arms hanging by her sides, gun still in hand. Despite the constant fighting against Cerberus, she never actually believed they would succeed, almost a year had past under the occupation, but it felt so much longer than that. Aria’s words throughout the station meant they finally succeeded, but it almost didn’t feel real.

A talon on Brill’s shoulder brings her back to reality, turning her head to see Nyreen standing beside her. Brill blinks, realizing Amvius is standing beside her, not Nyreen. He faintly grins at her, Brill remains expressionless as she looks up at him. “Everyone is clearing out Cerberus.” He begins, Brill slowly turns her head away and nods her acknowledgement. His face falls at her distance, concern covering his eyes. “I’ll issue the order, take care of everything.” He continues, using his grip on Brill’s shoulder to gently turn her towards him. “Promise me, you’ll take a moment.” Brill avoids eye contact with him, her eyes focusing on the floor but still registering his words, nodding in response. “I’ll contact you if anything comes up.” Brill absently nods again, Amvius lets his talon drop from her shoulder, training his head down to try and catch her eyes. “Take a moment.” He repeats, catching Brill’s gaze, his voice commanding. 

”Okay.” Brill relents, nodding and taking a step back. She doesn’t say more, turning from Amvius and leaving the docks without another word.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Without even thinking about it, Brill finds her way back to Talon HQ, wondering past the busy people and going straight towards Nova’s quarters. With her gone… it was probably Brill’s room now. No one pays much mind to Brill as she wonders into the room, letting the door hiss close behind her and the silence of the room pervades her senses. Part of her expects to hear Nyreen suddenly come in behind her. Except she doesn’t, and never will again. 

Brill wonders through the room, her eyes casting over different things, remembering places Nyreen had sat or stood. She wonders towards Nyreen’s desk, her fingers grazing over it’s surface. She slowly walks around it, coming around to stand behind it, her free hand moving the chair back and out of her way. 

A small picture frame sits on the desk, Brill’s gaze lingering on the picture framed by it. She gingerly reaches out, grasping the frame as she studies the picture. It was taken early on, back when Brill’s hair was still growing, just barely a crop of hair on her head. It was sometime after she joined the Talons and was finding her place among them. The picture shows Nyreen and Brill standing side by side, except at the last minute before the picture was taken, Nyreen shoved Brill, nearly knocking her over. Despite the shove, Brill looks happy in the picture, in the middle of a laugh, Nyreen looks annoyed but just as happy.

Brill carefully places the frame back onto the desk, gently resting it on the surface with a soft clink. She moves away from the desk, letting her hand slide off the frame and along the surface of the desk. Her legs taking her away and back towards the door to the room. She leaves Nyreen’s old quarters, her feet taking her to the only other place her mind wonders too, acting on their own as they take her through Omega.

The whole walk, Brill isn’t even entirely conscious of where she’s headed, just that her body moves, and she lets it. It doesn’t come to her until she looks up from the floor to see a familiar door, a holographic indicator showing red; locked. Brill’s eyes linger on the locked door, not sure what she expected to see. Open arms? No, the chance of that is unlikely. Brill casts her gaze down, looking away from the door as she turns away, stepping back. She keeps her eyes on the ground as she moves, putting the door out of her mind as she starts to mindlessly let her body walk again.

”Brill?” The voice makes Brill’s head snap up, her eyes widening at the figure standing only a few feet from her. Brill’s lips briefly part, the name stuck on her lips but stunned silent. _Aria._ The asari closes the distance between them, Brill’s back hitting the wall as Aria presses against her. Hands grip Brill’s shoulders, her own hands grabbing Aria’s arms to hold herself there. Aria’s lips crush against Brill’s own almost desperate. Their grip on one another tight until Aria’s grip slowly relaxes, her hands sliding down the length of Brill’s arm. The pressure of Aria’s lips even soften, bringing a moan from Brill’s throat.

Aria pulls away first, Brill lingering with her head tilted up before she finally lets her eyes open. Aria’s gaze is soft as she looks down at Brill, her eyes searching for something. She tilts her head forward, pressing her brow against Brill’s and resting it there. “We should talk.” She murmurs. 

Brill nods slightly, not letting her forehead leave its resting spot against Aria’s. “Yeah.” She agrees, her voice soft as she feels Aria slowly pull away. One of Aria’s hands slides down the rest of Brill’s arm, gripping her hand. She follows behind Aria, letting the asari guide her by the hand back to her apartment door, unlocking it to let them both in.

As soon as they enter Aria’s apartment, her hold on Brill’s hand releases and an unsettling silence follows between them as the door hisses closed. Brill hesitates by the door, her gaze dropping to the floor, unsure of where to even start much less what to talk about. “Want a drink?” Aria speaks first, making Brill look up at her, surprised at the hesitancy in the asari’s voice. 

”Yeah.” Brill answers, dropping her eyes from Aria again, rubbing her arm where Aria had grabbed her. 

Aria makes her way across the threshold of her apartment, stepping into the kitchen and rummaging around for what was still around that they could drink. Brill slowly slinks over to the bar in the kitchen, hesitant still even as she takes a seat at the bar. Aria finally manages to find a bottle of something and pours them each a glass, sliding one over to Brill as she sits across the bar. Brill grabs the glass, letting it remain on the bar as she fingers it lightly. 

Aria does the same, neither of them taking a drink, remaining in the awkward silence before one of them finally breaks it. “How long were you a Talon?”

Brill shrugs. “A few years, I think. The day we first met I had been a Talon for a few months by then.” She explains, holding the glass in both hands, still fidgeting with the rim with her fingers. “Except… when I was the Thief, when we were…” her voice trails off, not sure how to finish the sentence. “I wasn’t a Talon then.”

Aria leans forward, resting her elbows on the bar, her glass between her hands as she leans against the bar. “You said Nyreen asked you to rejoin. Why?” 

Brill finally takes a drink from her glass, deciding to knock it back before settling it back down on the counter with a clink. She doesn’t look Aria in the eyes, her gaze on the glass as she recounts the events after they parted ways and Cerberus took control. She doesn’t go into detail, explaining who Nova was and her sacrifice. “When Nyreen asked me the only thing I could think of was how to make it through the occupation. You weren’t on the station anymore, the only thing I could do was wait.” She slides the glass away, annoyed by her own fumbling with it. “So I helped Nyreen and waited.” 

The sound of Aria setting her glass down on the counter is loud enough to make Brill jump, the asari coming around the bar to Brill. She turns herself towards Aria as she approaches, at a loss for what she’s doing. “Aria, what--.” Aria silences her with a kiss, cupping Brill’s face in her hands as she does. Brill feels herself relax against the kiss, lingering on the familiar taste of Aria’s lips against her own. “Aria, I…” Brill tries to speak between kisses, Aria keeping her silent with each press of her lips and swipe of tongue. 

Aria finally pulls away, just a fraction. “Stop.” She says sternly, silencing Brill’s continuing attempts to speak. “Stop.” Her voice softens, her thumb idly stroking Brill’s cheek. Brill relaxes into the touch, leaning against her hand. She tentatively rests her hands on Aria’s waist, her own thumbs running soothing circles into the skin she finds there. Aria’s hands leave Brill’s face, grasping the back of her knees and pulling her to the edge of her seat, spreading her legs open for Aria to settle between them. “Sorry I made you wait for so long.” She rests her brow against Brill’s tilting her up to lock eyes with each other. 

There’s something there in the bright blue eyes that look back at her, it makes her breath catch in her throat, searching for a sort of explanation, some reason. Was it always there? Darkness slowly pools into Aria’s eyes, making Brill flinch, her hands leaving their place on Aria’s waist, but she catches them in her own. 

”Let me.” Aria whispers, rubbing a thumb over Brill’s knuckles to relax her. A slow breath escapes Brill’s lips, letting her instinctive walls fall, feeling Aria’s presence coax itself into her own. 

There’s a warmth in her chest, a warm unsettling feeling that spreads throughout her whole body, her heart pounding uneasily. Except she calms, the warmth in her chest settling as fingers trace along her arm, the sensation soothing. Her hands spread opening, fingers running along the length of her own before entwining with them, her body almost shaking with a satisfying hum at the connection. The sensation, the touch alone enough to calm the unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach, replacing it with a soft warmth. 

As tentatively as it began, it slips away, Aria’s mind sliding from Brill’s, leaving them both breathless. Brill blinks away the sensation, her eyes clearing to meet Aria’s warm gaze once more. A beat passes between them before Brill’s arms wrap themselves around Aria’s neck, their lips bruising one another. Aria’s arms tuck themselves under Brill, lifting her from the chair, their bodies flush against one another. Legs wrap around Aria’s waist as she carries Brill to the bedroom.

Brill’s back hits the bed as they tumble, hands fumbling around her armor, unbuckling and casting aside the clunky chest piece. Her hands fly to Aria’s own, undoing the straps she can reach with Aria’s assistance before the asari successfully shrugs off her vest and the top of her jumpsuit. With her top bare, she presses back against Brill, hands sliding beneath her top feeling the heated flesh beneath. 

The smaller human beneath Aria quivers at the touch, her hands sliding along Brill’s sides, tugging the shirt up and above her head, removing the garment and tossing it aside. With the shirt removed, Aria’s lips capture Brill’s once more, a fever behind them, hands rediscovering familiar places on one another. Brill’s hands find Aria’s forearms, pulling the asari further onto the bed settling comfortably on top of her. With the new position, her hands trail down to Aria’s waist, tugging the rest of the jumpsuit down. Aria assists, shedding the rest of her clothing before settling back above Brill, hands on her thighs urging her up.

The asari follows Brill’s urging, stopping once her knees rest on either side of Brill’s head. Lips press against the inside of Aria’s thighs, bringing a moan from her lips, fingers running through Brill’s hair, gripping the human’s head where it rests between her thighs. Brill’s hands lightly stroke the asari’s thighs, occasionally sliding upwards to cup a breast, soothing the heated skin beneath her palms before placing her mouth against Aria’s azure. 

A sharp gasp escapes Aria’s lips, relaxing into a moan with a swipe of Brill’s tongue. A devilish smile creeps across Aria’s face as she tilts her head back, letting darkness pool into her eyes, reaching out to Brill, sending her each wave of pleasure. Brill halters, her grip tightening on Aria’s thighs. “Fuck.” She breathes, ceasing her menstruations. “That’s… that’s not fair.”

Aria looks down at Brill between her thighs, smirking down at the human, her eyes still a pool of darkness as her fingers run through Brill’s hair. “When do I play fair?” She whispers. Brill groans but quickly returns her attention back to the asari bringing out a satisfying moan from her as Brill’s tongue continues its delicate strokes. Aria only takes advantage of the situation, returning the sensations to the human through the connection, making Brill halter but continue. 

With each wave of pleasure, Brill’s pressure increases, swirling her tongue around Aria’s azure, making the asari’s breath quicken as she quickly reaches the edge. Finger’s grip Brill tighter as a final thrust of Brill’s tongue finally sends Aria over. The surge of Aria’s orgasm making her body quiver and shake. The overwhelming sensation pouring through her mind meld with Brill, making the human suddenly cry out, nails digging into Aria’s thighs, her whole body clenching as the asari’s orgasm drives her to her own.

”Fuck!” Brill gasps, her body unclenching, her arms falling off Aria to rest against the bed. “Fuck.” She continues under her breath even as Aria rolls off, pressing her hand over her eyes as she tries to come down from her own high. 

Aria gratefully shares Brill’s afterglow, holding the meld to feel the human calm, lightly running her fingers against Brill’s stomach, making her shiver. The asari grins, letting the meld slip with a satisfying sigh, allowing Brill a reprieve from the sensations. Her eyes take in all of Brill, marveling at her handiwork. “That’s the first time you’ve ever come for me.” She observes, Brill’s eyes suddenly widening. 

”You…” Brill hesitates, looking at Aria next to her. “You knew?” Though she didn’t want to admit it, whenever Aria tried to reciprocate during sex, Brill had reluctantly faked it. 

”I’ve lived long enough to know the difference, Brill.” Aria replies, propping herself on her elbow and leaning over Brill to nip at her earlobe. “But now I know how to.” She breathes into her ear, making Brill shiver. Aria’s hand lightly strokes Brill’s side, pulling the human to her, both lying on their sides facing one another. “I mean to enjoy it as much as I can.” At her declaration, Aria licks her lips, the telltale sign that makes Brill’s eyes widen more. 

”Again?” She asks, surprised. 

Aria presses a kiss to Brill’s lips, smiling against them as she does. “I have reason to celebrate.” She replies, pressing another kiss. “And I don’t plan on letting you out of my sight again, any time soon.” She rolls onto her back, pulling Brill with her, letting the human straddle her waist, a hand stroking Brill’s back. “And I want you all to myself.” 

”Well.” Brill leans down, sliding her hands along Aria’s arms, pulling them free and pinning them above Aria’s head. “When you put it that way, I can’t refuse.”

Aria squirms beneath Brill, smirking up at her. “I missed you too.” She whispers, her pinned hands gripping Brill’s that hold her in place. Afterall, they do have reason to celebrate. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much longer until we reach the end.


	15. Chapter 15

A few hours had passed before Aria and Brill took a break, long enough to fall asleep. With so long of time apart and discovering new… aspects of each other led to rediscovering parts of themselves in a new light. Although it was exhausting work, keeping up with Aria’s newfound lust, it was something Brill was more than happy to participate in. The change felt like they were experiencing each other in a different way, the new intimacy bringing satisfaction as well as exploration to other levels. Not to mention Aria’s new fascination with using a mind meld to tease Brill to climax.

The few hours had proven to be pleasurable, as well as thirsty work. With Aria still asleep in the bed, Brill sliped away to get some water, finding herself parched when she woke. Despite the slight chill from the apartment, she wonders out of the bedroom to the kitchen stark naked, running a hand through her hair as she walks. Sometime during their exploits, her hair got lose, with it getting so long lately she had a slight tail out the back but not long enough to touch her shoulders quite yet. For now, she let it be as she wondered to the kitchen, searching through the fridge to find a bottle of water. Finding her prize, she tilts its contents back, gratefully chugging the water with a hand on her hip as she does. 

Brill lets the water help cool herself off, sighing as she lowers the bottle from her lips. The refreshing feeling from the water distracting her from the sound of a door hissing open. As Brill turns to set the bottle down on the counter she freezes, the bottle missing the counter and hitting the ground instead. 

A batarian stands at the front door, mirroring Brill’s confusion, a datapad in his hand. An awkward silence settles between them, not that Brill’s fazed by the fact that she was stark naked, but the fact that it was in the middle of Aria’s apartment. The silence lasts for what feels like an hour before the bedroom door hisses open. Brill’s eyes snap to Aria as she exits the bedroom, wearing only a sheer gown as cover, not even bothering to close it up. Brill’s mouth flops open at the added implications of the situation.

Aria seems not the least bit bothered or even recognizing it, striding straight to the batarian and grabbing the datapad from his hand. His attention turning to the asari, but occasionally glancing at the human who was now aggravatingly gesturing her hand to the state of Aria’s nakedness. 

Aria scans the datapad, scrolling through its content before returning her gaze to the batarian in front of her, noticing his lingering eyes. She finally looks over her shoulder to see Brill’s slightly wide eyes filled with questioning and a touch of aggravation. “Ah.” She glances back at the batarian. “Bray… Brill.” She nods her head behind her at Brill who suddenly throws her arms in the air. “There, now you two know each other. Keep the drills off for now. They’ve been running hard enough with Cerberus in charge, check for any long lasting damage on them because of it. Until I know they’re stable, I’d rather not risk it.” She hands the datapad back to Bray, the batarian not bothering to question anything else regarding the situation. “I’m celebrating.” There’s the sound of a soft smack from behind Aria that doesn’t even draw her gaze as Brill smacks her forehead with the palm of her hand. “Find us something to eat, Bray.”

Bray nods his acknowledgement and turns to leave without another word. As soon as the door hisses closed, Brill throws her arms in the air again. “The fuck!? Are you..?” She begins, Aria turning around to look at her. “Do you not even care?” 

The asari strides towards Brill, shrugging, her gown sliding off her shoulder as she does, catching it with her hand before it falls. “Why would I?” Brill hesitates, her eyes searching the air around Aria for a legitimate reason. 

”Shouldn’t you?” Brill asks, her voice hesitating at the question, the left side of her brow raised curiously. 

The distance between them closes, Aria pressing herself against Brill, her hands finding the back of the human’s thighs and lifting her into the air. “No.” She states, holding Brill against her, looking up at the human with a smug grin. “Not anymore.”

A small smile tugs at the corner of Brill’s lips, her arms slipping around Aria’s head, hand lightly resting against the back of her neck. She recalled the warmth that she had felt through Aria’s meld, the same warmth spreading across her chest as she considered what the asari meant by that. Her legs wrap around Aria’s waist. “I like the sound of that.” Brill replies coyly, watching the asari gingerly lick her lips, tilting her head down to hover of them. 

A growl tears through the silence, Brill biting her lip as a chuckle escapes Aria. The asari’s hands slide up Brill’s back, slowly lowering the human back to her feet as she continues to smile. “Someone’s hungry.” 

Brill glances away from Aria, embarrassed enough that her cheeks redden slightly. “We should… probably wait for Bray to come back with some food before we do anything else.” She wraps her arms around Aria’s waist, pulling the asari closer despite her reluctance.

Aria only grins, running her hands gently down Brill’s forearms, not wanting to detach herself either. “Agreed.” She leans down, her lips a ghost on Brill’s ear, making the small human tremble slightly. “But when he does, there’s something I’ve been wanting to try.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The toy Brill has strapped around her waist was something she honestly considered at one point, but never had the opportunity to try. The only disadvantage to this was, Brill awkwardly adjusts the harness, eyeing the long phallic object, it didn’t have a responding part. Most of these, that she knew of, had some reciprocation to it, where the user could feel something in return. To put it simply, it could simulate the sensations for the wearer instead of just the receiver. 

”Why… do you have this?” Brill asks hesitantly, watching Aria on the bed. The asari lying down on her back rather happily, seeming to enjoy the sight of Brill with the dildo strapped around her waist. 

Aria shrugs. “I had a use for it, but lost interest since it doesn’t do anything in return.” She explains. 

”So why?” Brill points at the dildo between her legs. “Where’s the fun in this for me?” 

Aria sits up at that, leaning towards Brill where she rests on her knees on the bed. “I think you’ll have enough fun with the view.” She adds, her voice dropping to a lower sultry tone. She turns around until her back faces Brill and she bends over, ass in the air towards Brill who’s brow quickly rises with interest. 

”Oh.” Aria wasn’t wrong, the sight of the asari bent over on her knees, propping herself up by her elbows was an excellent image, and a severe understatement. Brill scoots closer to Aria, still resting up on her knees, letting one hand slide along the curve of Aria’s cheek. She could feel the asari squirm slightly beneath the touch before Brill’s hand quickly slaps against Aria’s ass, admiring the motion. 

Aria glances over her shoulder, glaring slightly at Brill. “Will you hurry up?” She demands. 

”Nope.” Brill quickly responds, letting her other free hand slide across Aria’s other cheek, admiring the curve of her spine. 

”Brill.” Aria repeats, her voice becoming more of a plead. 

”Well.” Brill shrugs, grasping the shaft of the dildo as she inches a little closer, eyeing Aria’s azure. “Since you asked so nicely.” Using her hand, Brill lines the tip to Aria’s azure, sliding it against her slick opening, making the asari moan loudly. “Although….” Brill continues, rubbing the toy against Aria’s clit instead, noticing her visible tremors. “You didn’t say please.” Brill frowns at the notion, still happily eyeing Aria’s frustration as she tries to press her hips back against Brill’s. “Hey.” Brill slaps a firm hand against Aria’s ass, making her yelp. 

Brill grabs Aria’s hips, holding her firmly as she leans forward, pressing a kiss against Aria’s shoulder. “I’ll let you have it when I _want_ you to have it, not the other way around.” From the angle, she could barely make out Aria licking her lips at the words. Brill leans back, smirking smugly as she grasps the shaft once more, sliding it along Aria’s azure. “You really are wet enough already to take it.” Brill observes, letting the tip slide into Aria, watching her toes curl, rolling her hips back, trying desperately to take more.

“You’ve been such a good little asari all day today.” She continues, letting the dildo slide deeper into Aria’s warm embrace, a slow moan emitting from those lips, her hands now gripping the sheets of the bed tightly. “You deserve a little reward.” Brill concludes, removing her hand from the shaft to grasp Aria’s hips. With a firm grip she eases the asari back, letting the toy sink deeper, enjoying the tiny gasps and moans from Aria’s lips as the asari takes the entirety of it into her sweet azure. Brill’s thighs meet Aria’s as she buries the rest the length into the asari, grinning as Aria shivers beneath her touch. Brill runs a hand along Aria’s spine, watching it arch as her fingers travel. “That’s a good little asari.” She coos. 

Gingerly, Brill pulls her hips back, drawing out the length, a long sigh slipping from Aria’s lips as she does so. Without letting it come out completely, she eases herself forward again, watching the toy slide back into Aria, the shaft already slick from her azure. She builds a slow steady rhythm, pulling out slowly before gliding back in, letting Aria adjust to the girth.

The slow pace helpful enough to get Aria back into the swing of it, but quickly becomes agonizing, making Aria groan impatiently. She glances over her shoulder to see Brill still taking her sweet time, slowly pumping in and out of Aria’s thirsty azure. Aria suddenly grins, her eyes slowly becoming a pool of black, letting the sensations of the cock within her suddenly flood the human. 

”FUCK.” Brill breathes, nearly falling over, catching herself against Aria, breathing heavily. The meld quickly breaks, just enough to rattle Brill as she breathes heavily, Aria chuckling at her success. “Dammit Aria.” Brill curses, slapping the asari’s ass, making Aria yelp but continue to chuckle. “You could have warned me.” 

Aria wiggles her hips, glancing back at Brill with a wink. “Where’s the fun in that?” She asks, Brill answering with a forceful thrust, making Aria moan loudly, her attention turning back to the pillows. 

Brill takes on a faster pace, thrusting into Aria more forcefully, slapping the curvy ass of the asari as she thrusts. Eventually it becomes a dance, Aria thrusting her hips back into Brill’s, intensifying the force until beads of sweat drip from both their bodies, becoming breathless with the action. The sensations and lust begin to drive Aria, her eyes becoming pools of black once more as her mind reaches out to Brill’s. The human’s hands tighten on Aria’s hips and she suddenly ceases her thrusts, falling onto Aria again, breathing heavily as the meld takes her. 

_Don’t stop._ Brill tries to catch her breath, holding herself up with Aria’s back, but the sensations she feels from Aria’s meld becoming too much to focus on anything else, much less starting a rhythm again. _You’re not making it easy._ Brill tries to sit back up, her whole body shaking along with Aria’s. _You mean **you** aren’t making it easy. It’s your cock fucking me right now._ Brill moans loudly, rolling her head back as she sits up, her mouth parting open as she tries to steady her breathing. 

Keeping the meld, Aria eases her hips, letting Brill’s cock slowly slide out before pressing back against Brill’s hips once more, letting the rhythm slowly build. Despite the overwhelming sensation of Aria’s arousal, Brill lets her try and resume before it becomes too much. She pulls back, clenching her eyes and making Aria quickly break the meld. 

Brill falls back, letting her butt hit the bed, breathing heavily at the exertion, shaking her head. “It’s too much, I don’t think I can do it.” She confesses, licking her dry lips, opening her eyes as if from a haze to look at Aria. 

Aria flops around, sitting up to face Brill as she continues to try and catch her breath. The asari crawls to Brill, placing a hand on her chest and pushing her back onto the bed. “Lay back.” She instructs, letting Brill sprawl backwards, straddling the human’s legs as she rests back against the sheets.

Aria grabs Brill’s wrists, placing her arms above her head and holding them there with one hand while the other grasps the shaft of the cock, helping it find the entrance to her azure once more. Successfully finding her entrance, Aria leans forward, pressing her lips against Brill’s ear. “I will make you come with me.” She whispers. 

Brill frantically turns her head, distancing her ear from Aria’s lips. “Fuck.” She breathes. Brill barely has any time to brace herself, Aria’s eyes filling with black pools, her mind grasping Brill’s as she lets herself slip down onto Brill’s cock. Both gasping loudly their sounds slipping to a moan as the sensation overtakes them. 

Aria doesn’t waste time, keeping Brill’s hands firmly in place, her free hand bracing herself up as she rides the cock, building a steady rhythm as she straddles Brill’s hips. The pair breathing frantically as Brill’s cock drives itself into Aria’s sweet azure with each lift of her hips. Their breathing grows ragged as Aria’s pace quickens, thrusting down harder against Brill, disregarding Brill’s arms as she braces herself, placing her hands behind her on either side of Brill’s thighs as she lifts herself. Her spine arching as she leans back, getting a new angle to quicken the pace, her breathing in sync with the human beneath her. 

The tension inside them only builds as Aria keeps her pace, the muscles in their legs tightening but she continues, never ceasing her thrusts. Her azure clenches around the length of Brill’s cock, her breath hitching in her throat. One last thrust makes them both cry out as their shared orgasm flows across the meld. Aria stills, her hips pressed firmly against Brill’s as they shake, waves of ecstasy flowing through. They remain still for a moment, their bodies quivering as each little jostle has them gasping.

Aria slowly pulls herself off Brill, moaning together as the toy frees itself from its confines. The meld fades, the pools of black fading from Aria’s eyes as she sits up, slowly rolling herself to Brill’s side and resting there. 

”Are you…” Brill takes a deep breath, trying to calm her heart. “Are you going to do that all the time now?” She asks. 

”I plan to.” Aria chuckles, rolling over to hover over Brill, grinning down at the human. “I have a lot to make up for.” She adds. 

Brill rolls her eyes. “You realize you don’t have to do that right? It doesn’t matter.” 

”To you.” Aria begins. “But now I’m keeping score.” 

Brill’s brow arches curiously. “What, you mean you’re going to make up for every time we had sex before and I faked it?” 

Aria leans closer to Brill, her eyes narrowing, daring Brill to question her commitment. “I aim to, yes.” She replies smugly. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A ringing sound jerks Brill from her sleep, urging her to quickly sit up and glance at the flashing omni-tool on her wrist. The incoming call makes Brill take a quick moment to breathe before answering it. “Amvius.”

_”Brill.”_ The turian’s voice came out clear, he sounded a little worried, just as she suspected he would. _”Did you take a moment?”_

Brill considers his question, her arm idly lowering. An arm sliding around Brill’s waist turns her attention back, a small smile coming to her lips as Aria presses a kiss to her hip. “Yeah, a few moments. Is something wrong?”

_”No, not really. I was just checking on you.”_ There’s a hesitation in his voice when he pauses, sighing. _”Everything’s under control… for now. There’s just one matter we need to address. With Aria T’loak back in control of Omega, there’s a chance she’ll try to put the Talons back in line. For Nyreen’s sa—”_

”I’ll deal with Aria.” Brill silences him, not bothering to look at Aria lying beside her. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of the problem.”

_”Are you sure?”_

”Positive. Keep things in order, for now, Amvius. Radio me if there’s any other problems. I’ll see you at Headquarters soon.” Amvius acknowledges the order before ending the call, Brill closing her omni-tool. 

”You’ll deal with me, hm?” Aria rumbles next to Brill, pressing another kiss to her hip, running a finger down her thigh. 

”This is serious, Aria.” The serious tone Brill’s voice takes has Aria pull away, sitting up slightly, propping her elbow on a pillow, resting her chin on a fist. “I’m the leader of the Talons now, and I plan to keep it as the way Nyreen intended. You’re forces are basically nonexistent because of the Cerberus take over. If someone attacks Omega again, you can’t defend it.”

Aria’s eyes narrow at Brill’s words. “What’s your point?” 

”The Talons are a large enough force to protect all of Omega. They’ll be Omega’s security, but they’ll remain under my command.” Brill begins. “Nyreen wanted to protect the people of Omega, and I mean to follow her beliefs with that. The Talons will protect Omega and its people, anything you ask of me that threatens that and I’ll refuse.” The words make Aria sit up straighter, no longer lounging comfortably. 

A silence falls between them, Brill stuck clasping her hands together to try and stave off her hesitance. Maybe her words were too bold? Too ballsy? Omega had already been ripped from Aria in the past, why would she agree to this? Except this was different and despite everything Brill knew she had to stand for what she knew Nyreen wanted. This is what Nyreen had brought her up for, just as Amvius had thought. 

”You make it hard to refuse.” The words draw Brill’s gaze, surprised, even more so at the sight of Aria’s sly smile. “You look surprised.” 

Brill quickly looks away, her brow furrowing with confusion. “Why would you agree to my terms? It doesn’t make sense, its like I’m taking a part of Omega from you but you’re letting me. Why? It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t—” A hang grips her chin, turning her head back to Aria’s gaze, making her stop, locked in by the asari’s bright blue eyes. 

”Because I trust you.” The words hang in the air, Brill searching Aria’s eyes before her shoulders relax, letting herself tilt forward, their brows resting against another. “You sound like her.”

Brill briefly pulls away at that, eyeing Aria curiously. “Who?”

”Nyreen, and just as stubborn.” Aria chuckles, tapping her brow against Brill again before pressing a kiss against her lips, pulling back. “There’s something… to get Shepard to help me retake Omega, I had to make a promise. I promised Shepard Omega will help in the battle against the Reapers.” 

Brill’s face falls, her eyes lowering, but Aria’s hand on her ching brings her back to look at her. “You’re leaving.” 

”Helping Shepard will only be easier if I coordinate shipments and merc forces from the Citadel.” Brill’s eyes falter again but Aria jerks her head back, recapturing her eyes. “But I will return when I need to. Someone needs to make sure my station doesn’t burn down.” She smirks, drawing the slightest of smiles from Brill. “Will you wait for me again?”

The question makes Brill’s chest tighten, her heart pounding. “Of course.”

Aria smiles, sliding her hand to Brill’s cheek, stroking it with her thumb. “Shall we seal it with a kiss?” She asks coyly. 

”That’s corny as fuck, Aria.” Brill laughs. 

Aria presses, pushing Brill down against the bed, bracing herself over the human, looking down with a grin. “I wasn’t talking about the mouth.”


	16. Chapter 16

The past few months that had passed became practically routine. Threat of Reaper attack being basically nonexistent out in the Terminus, not to mention with all the added defenses Cerberus had installed to Omega. It made the station an actual safe place to be, and the steady stream of resources filtering through the relay made Omega more of a military reinforcement than what it had been the past. A den of drugs and mercenary activity, not that it had changed from that either. With the few changes, however, Brill found herself dealing with paperwork more than the reforming mercenary groups.

Due to the pile of paperwork, the flow of shipments to different planets, Nyreen’s old quarters and desk became an obvious choice for Brill to sit at as she sorted through everything. A lot of the paperwork had to do with where to send next shipments, where supplies were needed most. The war against the Reapers not putting up the greatest of battles according to Bray and Aria’s other men. While Brill oversaw the shipments and security of Omega, Bray and the others kept tabs on everything, sending reports to Aria and managing the finer points of Omega, specifically the drills and production. Of course Brill dealt with the managerial parts of things like paperwork, Aria probably hated those parts the most.

Brill finally relents, sighing loudly as she shoves the stack of datapads away, resting her head on the desk. At this point, she was starting to miss constant gunfire. Under the surface, it felt like her biotics were becoming restless from the lack of use, if that was even a thing. 

A ping on Brill’s omni-tool makes her lift her head, eyes glazing over her forearm to see the notification. A message. She quickly perks up, thumbing open the omni-tool.

_[MSG] A: What are you wearing?_

Brill’s forehead smacks into the desk, her hand covering the smile that spreads across her face. Even though she was at Omega dealing with paperwork, Aria herself was trapped at the Citadel, and there was no doubt in Brill’s mind that Aria hated every second of it.

_[MSG] T: Are you really that bored?_

Brill types in the message, keeping her head resting on the desk as she does so, a small smile still resting on her lips. The time apart was difficult, but it was a different feeling from before, especially with Aria’s occasional checkups. The fact that Aria being stuck on the Citadel was borderline torture for her was actually pretty entertaining for Brill.

_[MSG] A: This place is too fucking uptight. I hate it._

_[MSG] T: You said the bar isn’t too bad. Find something to distract yourself with._

_[MSG] A: I said, what are you wearing?_

Brill’s grin spreads farther across her lips as she sits up, rolling her eyes. 

_[MSG] T: Combat Armor._

_[MSG] A: Hot._

Brill chuckles, closing her omni-tool as the door opens, glancing up to see Amvius standing in the door way at attention. “I hope I’m not intruding.” He starts, Brill shaking her head, the turian taking a step forward to let the door hiss close behind him.

”I’m trying to stave off paperwork.” Brill admits, gesturing to the scattered pile of datapads on the desk. “Anything you need to report?” Her omni-tool chimes again, and she glances at it to see another message from Aria.

_[MSG] A: I’ll be back there soon. So I can have my way with you._

_[MSG] T: Then hurry up and come have me._

Brill quickly closes it, turning her attention back to Amvius, but failing to hide the playful smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. “I take it Aria will be heading back to Omega soon?” He asks, even if he’s picking up on the signals, he doesn’t insinuate anything from them. After the past few months it became apparent that Amvius knew, how could he not? They knew each other physically enough for him to know when Brill was elated for a specific reason.

”The usual check up.” Brill stands, stretching her arms above her head and feeling her back make a satisfying pop. “Well?” She lowers her arms back to her sides, cocking her head at Amvius. “Anything to report?”

Amvius straightens up, shaking his head. “No, nothing of importance. The usual mostly.” Brill steps around the desk, tucking her hands behind her as she walks. “We’ve been getting a lot of Reaper activity reports lately, but nothing around the area we should be concerned with.” He hesitates.

Brill’s brow furrow at his hesitation, standing in front of the turian with her arms crossed. “Are you concerned?” With what reports they had been getting with Cerberus gone from the station, it certainly wasn’t good. Palavan, and even Thessia taken by the Reapers. It was hard to see it as a pressing matter with very little Reaper activity around them. Still.

”Yes.” Amvius says, casting a serious look down at Brill. “None of it is good.” He shakes his head. Even with what progress they’ve been making by sending resources, none of the results change. The Reapers were advancing, and moving quickly, despite constant opposition. He wasn’t wrong.

Brill nods, unfolding her arms. “I know what you mean.” She places a hand on Amvius’s arm. “I know… I can’t speak from the same position. Earth was taken first, and I’ve never even been there before, but… I can imagine how you feel about Palavan, especially having heard the news after the fact.” She begins, squeezing his arm reassuringly. “There’s bigger people than us fighting for the galaxy and I think they have a better chance than we ever would if we tried, BUT.” She hesitates, lowering her arm. “I’d understand if you’d want to leave and join the battle, I won’t stop you.”

There’s awe in Amvius’s expression, completely stunned by Brill’s words. Although he had seen some change to her character the past month or so, it was still staggering to witness it. There’s a satisfying flick of his mandibles at the realization. “I never thought I’d see the day.” He muses, his gaze growing soft.

”What?” Brill asks, surprised by the sudden change, she touches her cheek, worried there’s something on her face.

”She’s good for you.” Amvius suddenly stagger back, chuckling at Brill’s shove and her avoiding eyes. He dusts his shoulder off, still chuckling at Brill’s playful avoidance. Even though she shoved him, she didn’t counter his words, not attempting to dismiss it. “I’m not going anywhere, Brill. Although I appreciate you letting me know. Who would be here to help distract you from paperwork when Aria’s not?” Another shove.

”Shut up, would you? I get enough of it as it is.” Brill steps past him as he chuckles, exiting the room. “I need to cause some havoc.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Travel from the Citadel to Omega, at best took a few days. With Reaper attacks becoming more frequent, most travelers had to rely on different Relay routes, rather than the typical straight forward route. Brill had only received the message from Aria just yesterday, letting her know the asari was on her way back to check on things. It usually became the most agonizing wait, trying to stave off the impatient feeling in Brill’s gut to see the asari again. Her only saving grace was the possibility that Aria felt the same anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach. Despite the comfort, it still made it difficult for Brill to try and sleep, knowing Aria would be joining her in sleep in due time.

A loud ringing rips Brill from her attempt at sleep, making her jump up from her stomach. She had collapsed onto her stomach on the bed, the loud ringing from her omni-tool sitting right beside her ear from the position. She shakes herself, focusing in the dim light to the frantic lighting on her omni-tool. It was late, even for Omega, who could possibly be calling at this hour. 

_Call from Ahz._

Brill rubs the sleep from her eye with the edge of her palm, squinting at the notification as it continues to ring loudly. Aria’s tech expert, he remained at the station to help oversee mining operations and to ensure steady contact. The salarian also excelled at hacking comms, a way to keep an eye on any other Cerberus activity and ensuring the safety of Omega, but why?

Brill opens her omni-tool as the ringing continues, the salarian obviously determined to get a hold of her. “Ahz?” Her voice bleary from lack of sleep, still rubbing at her eyes as she tries to focus. “What the hell is it?”

 _”Command Center. Now. It’s important.”_ There’s panic in the salarian’s voice, even more panic than is typical in their natural tones.

Brill quickly straightens up, jumping up from the bed. “I’m on my way.” She grabs her boots from beneath the bed and slipping them on. Ahz ends the call on his end, Brill quickly using her still open omni-tool to call Amvius. He answers on the second ring, sounding just as tired as Brill had only a second ago.

_”Brill? What is it?”_

”I don’t know.” Brill tightens her boots, standing up quickly and grabbing her gun, clipping it to her thigh. “Ahz just called me, said it was important. Meet me at the Command Center, whatever it is, it doesn’t sound good. He sounded panicked, more so than usual.” There’s a confirmation from Amvius before Brill hangs up, grabbing her vest and slipping it on before sprinting out of the room. 

Omega’s Command Center isn’t far, having moved the base controls Cerberus had set up in Afterlife to somewhere more convenient. It allows Brill to get there quickly, running past the Talon guards posted at the entrance as they nod at her. They don’t seem fazed by her hurry, whatever is fazing Ahz must be kept under wraps. Brill spots Amvius standing beside a large circle holographic dais, Ahz hunched over a panel on it, typing away frantically. She jogs up to them, Amvius nodding at her.

”Okay. What’s the emergency?” Brill asks, glancing at Ahz, his head snapping up, so many expressions passing cross the salarian’s face, she can feel her chest tighten at the clash. Something was causing a lot of strife in the salarian’s emotions, but what?

”Received reports…” He speaks frantically, his voice dying out, the same frantic emotions making themselves visible as he fidgets with his hands. 

”Relax.” Brill waves her hand at him, trying to fan down his panic. “Just show me.” Ahz seems to relax a fraction, but still hesitates, his hands hovering over the control panel, as if showing her makes it even worse. His finger finally taps the control, a large holographic display appearing before them.

Reapers.

Hundreds of them.

Hundreds of Reapers gathered together, surrounded protectively around one thing. 

…

…

The Citadel.

A talon grasps Brill’s arm and she quickly realize she’s shaking, her hands quivering as her heart thuds loudly in her chest. She could feel herself falling, even with the firm grip on her arm keeping her upright.

Ahz is fidgeting just as much beside the console, his fingers pressing together as he tries to speak. “I just picked up… these transmissions. They’re saying… the Reapers took the Citadel. These images are being transmitted from Earth, they’re holding the Citadel just within the atmosphere.” Every other words comes out rushed while others come out slow, nervous with each bit of information.

”Word from the Citadel?” Amvius keeps his grip on Brill’s arm, his voice rising up behind her. 

Ahz shakes his head. “Nothing.”

_No._

Brill steps away Amvius, pulling her eyes away from the hologram, walking to another console. There’s a viewport of the outside of the station, some of the guns Cerberus had installed visible from the window. From where she stands, she can see the Relay in the distance, her eyes locked on it.

Amvius watches Brill for a moment, her hand resting on her arm where he had held her. He turns his attention back to Ahz, the salarian still fidgeting frantically. “What do we know?” He asks.

”Alliance amassing a force to combat the Reapers.” Ahz begins, closing the hologram, his fidgeting starting to cease now that the image was gone. “I received some reports before regarding Commander Shepard. They had schematics for a weapon to destroy the Reapers.”

”And?” Amvius presses.

Ahz motions to the nonexistent display. “The Citadel is a component to the weapon. It was the last report I saw before I received… the transmission about the Reaper advance.”

Amvius’s mandibles flinch, he pitches forward, grabbing the dais with his talons, a growl escaping him. “That’s why the Reapers took it. They must have realized Shepard needed it for the weapon.” He casts his gaze to Brill, her back still to him as she gazes out the viewport. It looked like her shaking had ceased. “Brill.”

”She’s coming back.” Her voice is distant, soft but firm, like an affirmation to herself rather than the others around her.

Amvius’s brow lowers with concern. “We don’t know that for certain.”

Brill turns slightly, glancing over her shoulder at him, a smile on her lips, making his eyes widen. “She made it.” Brill repeats, sounding so sure, the smile still present. “She made it out.” Brill turns back to stare out into the stars, her eyes on the Relay, as if waiting for a ship to jump through its energy, any moment now. “I know she did.” 

Brill finally turns away from the viewport, her eyes falling to Ahz, tucking her hands behind her back as she straightens. “Thank you for letting us know, Ahz.” She nods, the salarian instantly relaxing. “We’ll handle things as normal. There’s no reason for the station to panic when we don’t know the whole picture yet. If the Alliance is amassing a counterattack, we must wait to see whether it succeeds. The only things we can do now is keep order and be ready for anything that could happen.” The salarian nods.

Brill steps towards Amvius, his brow still furrowed in concern. “The thing we have to focus on right now is the defense of this station. There’s nothing we can do for something happening across the galaxy. Omega and its people are the priority, and it always has been.” She nods at Amvius, turning her attention back to Ahz. “Keep an eye on any other reports coming in. If something else happens, we can’t be left in the dark. We must be ready to act if the Alliance attack fails. Its only a matter of time before the Reapers turn their attention somewhere else.” The orders seem to relax the salarian, bringing him back to the present as he nods.

”Unless we know for certain, we’ll keep this from the rest of the station. I don’t want this information leaving this room. Try not to raise any suspicion. If we hear more, than we’ll decide from there, we don’t have the luxury of panicking.” Brill concludes, waiting for both to confirm the orders before she grins. “Good. Keep me posted, Ahz.” With that, she turns and leaves the Command Center, Amvius quickly stumbling to catch up with her.

”Brill!” He grabs her arm, halting her walk, casting a glance behind him at the guards just at the door. He tugs her away from them, finding a more secluded spot before speaking up again. “Are you?”

”I’m fine.” Brill replies quickly, placing a hand on Amvius, loosening his grip on her arm. “You don’t have to worry, Amvius. I’m alright, I don’t need a moment.”

Amvius lets the silence linger, searching Brill’s face for some sort of explanation, some reason for her incredible calm demeanor. “Are you sure?”

”I’m positive.” Brill confirms, offering him a small smile. “The safety of Omega is the most important thing right now. We have to focus on that if we want to make it through this. Whatever happens with the Reapers, we don’t have any control of it right now. We just stick to what we always do. We survive, just like when Cerberus took the station. We survive.” She repeats the words. “Until Aria comes back.”

Amvius leans back, her composure startling him a little, wondering exactly what was going through her mind. “How do you know for sure she’s coming back?” He asks. “How do you know she made it out?”

”Because.” Brill’s voice tightens, betraying her composure only briefly before she swallows it down, looking up at Amvius with confidence. “She asked me to wait for her.” The words make Amvius’s own body twist in pain, seeing the struggle deep within Brill’s eyes. He can hear it in her voice now, the restrained pain and hesitance behind the constant reassurance. She was still terrified, shaking inside from the news, struggling to keep herself upright, but remaining there because of a silent promise.

”Brill.” He begins, his voice soft.

”So I’m going to wait.” There’s a silent struggle in her voice as she speaks. There’s still a smile on her face, the only thing keeping her together is forcing it on her face. “Because what else can I do?” Amvius lowers his head, unsure of how to answer her, if she was even wanting an answer. 

His gaze slowly raises, a question on his mind as he looks at her, her body visibly clenching. “What if she never comes back?” He asks.

Brill steps back from him, holding her arms close to herself, still trying her best to offer him a smile, however small. “Aria trusted me with the security of Omega. She trusts me to wait.” She stands up straighter, her hands unclenching their tight grip on her arms. “So I trust her to come back. She will, I know she will. I just…” Her body shudders as she takes a deep breath, fingers briefly clenching their grip on her arms. 

Amvius nods, straightening and snapping a salute to Brill, the formality drawing Brill back out from within herself. “Keeping Omega and its people safe is our first and only priority. The Talons will see to it. _You_ will see to it.” He says sternly, the gesture making Brill take a more calming breath. “I’ll make sure we have everyone ready when we receive the next report.” He steps back, lowering his talon to finish his salute. “Keep the station together for when the Queen returns.”

Brill’s calm returns to her at those words, and although she doesn’t say anything, Amvius can feel the appreciation radiating from her look alone. “See to it then.” She nods behind her, dismissing Amvius to see to it, and he does. Leaving Brill alone gives him only a brief pause, but he steels himself to depart, leaving the human alone in the small secluded area. 

Feeling alone at last, Brill closes her eyes, letting her arms fall back to her sides as the tension and tightness around her whole body slowly relaxes. Whatever the future held; whatever fate becomes decided in the upcoming battle they had no control over. The future of the galaxy rested in different hands, something Brill and not even Aria could control. There was just one thing that was for certain, one grace that Brill clutched on to with bloodied hands. The one thing she had come to reach for in the past, but now she held on to it like no other. 

The cold steel of the wall chills Brill’s skin as she leans against the wall, letting the chill wash over her, resting her cheek against the wall, wishing for a familiar warmth there instead. Her eyes flutter close as she imagines the warmth beside her instead of the chilling cold of the station. She slowly licks her lips, bringing to life her dry hesitance. 

The silence waits until she finally answers. 

”I’ll be waiting.”

**The End.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I. I would personally like to thank everyone who have stuck around since the beginning of this story. I’ve never been good at finishing them. I started this story back in September of 2014 and it has taken me this long to get to the end. I always knew how it would end, but never the journey brill would take to get there. The years that have passed since I began this trip with Brill have been eventful to say the least. The long time that passed between chapters, there was a lot of discovery regarding Brill. Secrets about her I never knew, and I enjoyed discovering them, although I wish I had known them in the beginning. Granted, I never would have known the way this story was going to go, I never anticipated the journey would be like this. So, thank you, to everyone who’s stuck around since then and went on this journey with me, to those readers who joined in along the way to discover Brill as much as I have. Her strength got me out of tight spots in my own personal journey, her character always fascinating me. She was just created on a whim, a simple idea that someone suggested, and I created her to fit that idea. I never thought the small thought that was Brill would grow up to this.  
> Is this the end of Brill’s story? I can’t say for certain, but know this; she’ll always be around, and if one day her story is destined to continue, I will write it. Until such a day comes, thank you for reading The Thief and Queen.


End file.
